NY: Debt Collector Used Sex Threats, Harassment

(08-18) 12:52 PDT Albany, N.Y. (AP) --

New York's attorney general said Tuesday he is trying to shut down a debt collector whose employees used outrageous tactics in several states, such as threatening to sexually attack one debtor's daughter, berating people as drunks and deadbeats, and bullying others with threats of arrest.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the lawsuit against the Benning-Smith Group for what he claims are more than 1,000 violations of state and federal law in New York alone. He said his staff has also spoken to people from Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas who claim they were victims.

Cuomo said he is chasing more than 850 complaints and is suing at least 13 debt collection companies with separate names operated under the Benning-Smith Group.

"They did everything they could to demean and humiliate their targets, stooping so low as to sexually harass and verbally abuse individuals nationwide," Cuomo said.

In an answering machine tape that Cuomo provided to The Associated Press, an unidentified collection agent told a New York grandmother of seven in 2006: "You are totally ghetto. ... Learn English; get an education instead of just sitting on your fat derriere all day long."

The caller then insulted her pronunciation of "plan" and called her an "uneducated reject. ... Get a real job, get an education and learn to take care of your responsibility like a grown adult would."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/18/national/a114659D94.DTL#ixzz0OZyYEc1w

good to see some justice in this

...respectable.

that is near the bar I hang out at, and so the employees come in a fair amount. I have seen the transformation in individuals over the years. They start out a little apprehensive. They later get cocky as they money rolls in and they justify what they do with vigor. After 9 months or so, however, they turn into big spenders with fancy cars and big bar tabs, while being depressed and dejected and weakly trying to convince themselves and others that the tactics that they use are ok.

Debt collectors are generally vile.

:dem:

-Laelth

:grr:

I am glad Cuomo is going after them.