Consumer Law

Buffalo, NY Has The Largest Concentration of Debt Collectors

By M. Stan Herring

The Huffington Post has posted an article about how Buffalo, New York has become home to one of the largest concentrations of debt collector companies in the country. Buffalo residents have been desperate for jobs and going into business as a debt collector guarantees steady income. "Between 5,000 and 6,000 people earning $30,000 to $40,000 a year now work at roughly 110 collection agencies in and around Buffalo."

Such a large number of debt collectors has lead to Buffalo having some of the worst debt collector harasment issues..some of the debt collectors are even convicted felons.

As the sour economy leaves people less and less able to pay their debts, the collection abuses have become so flagrant and numerous that state and federal authorities have moved to shut down several Buffalo-area agencies where the most heartless and bullying telephone calls originated. At least 20 people have been sued or arrested on criminal charges.

While the bad economy has been partly responsible for the rise in complaints, another factor has been the emergence of companies that buy portfolios of old debts and make another stab at collecting, often more aggressively. Virtually anyone can buy into the business and get access to the personal information needed to collect a debt ? including people with criminal records.

This has led to some of the worst in the debt collection business, threatening debtors with phony lawsuits or phoning their neighbors or coworkers are more commonplace. When graded, about half of the collection agencies in western New York were given an "F" and the Better Business Bureau reports that it received over 4,500 reports of debt collector harassment from the same region in the past three years.

If you have had problems with debt collector harassment, feel free to contact us through our website or by calling 205-879-2447.

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Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).