Well for starters, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has closed down Fredericks, Goldstein and Zoe but forgetting that what differentiates these two entities is the fact that Fredericks threatened to have people arrested, beaten up and to have sexual relations with their spouses or children. Besides the aforementioned Asta Funding or Palisades Acquisitions is no better. Their game is one I have written about before. They buy up debts which are beyond state sol's(statutes of limitation) and or FTC time barred for about $04 to .05 on the dollar and attempt to collect on them. They then pull a real cutesy move and have a "legitimate" collection agency try to suck the money out of the victims.
They use NCO as one of their tools. I have never perceived NCO to be a legitimate collection agency. Just check the various state court dockets.
What is really quite shocking is the fact that Herman Badillo sits on Asta's Board of Directors. I am sure everyone in New York knows the name Herman Badillo. This is disgraceful. It is disgraceful because this guy is in bed with real scum. Asta's game is to manufacture fraudulent affidavits of debt in house with no supporting documents, manufacture statements of account in house and try to pass these documents off as legitimate in courts of law. Guess what? They get away with it. They get away with it because the alleged debtors do not know their rights or how to defend themselves.
As of today(09/08/09) Asta Funding(Palisades Acquisitions) was plaintiff of record in 4960 civil actions just in the New York State Court System data base. Guess how many actions were listed as defendant for? 6!!! What does that tell you. It tells me that they play their game well and that those who they sue end up with lots of default judgments. This is easy money for the Stern family which runs Asta. I suppose it is all okay if you can get up in the morning and look in the mirror and not feel the slightest bit of guilt. After all, it isn't every day that guys like the Sterns and their board members get to be complicit in ruining so many lives and come off like their are ethical and honest business people.
Their attempt at a cloak of respectability is rather touching with their NASDAQ listing. It is like publicly traded shares of what horses dropped in the local stables last night.
I have screamed and yelled for a while that these vultures operate with temerity and arrogance because the penalties for violations of the FDCPA and the FRCRA are a joke. I don't see any politicians screaming and yelling about all these consumer abuses with regard to debts which are beyond statutes of limitation. I would like to see Chris Dodd, Charles Schumer, Joe Lieberman, Nancy Pelosi, and others step up to the plate. I suppose if one has never experienced the threats or harassment from debt collectors acting illegally or been sued by them it is just a distant or someone else's problem.
In a previous article I factored in for inflation and showed you how the $1000 fine for each violation of the FCRA and the FDCPA in the 1970's adjusted for inflation would be more than $5485 today. Why should these debt collectors care about a puny $1000 fine when they are making millions off the backs of people who have no clue as to how to stand up and take control?
I started StoptheCallsFast because of my own experiences with these debt collectors and their brand of financial terrorism. I learned how to take the offense and get rid of them both in court and out of court. That is what my self help system teaches people to do. For the month of September I have slashed my prices in half. What was $79.99 is now only $39.99 but just for September. A small investment which will pay for itself many times over.
