I owe a debt to Capital One from 2008. I attempted to settle with them but they refused to settle the $800 debt for less than $1400. In 2011 I began getting calls from MAB saying they represented Capital One and that they were about to take me to court unless I could pay over $800 now. I haven't worked since June 2009 and have no income. I have gotten many, many threatening phone calls from them. They refuse to send me anything in writing unless it's via email. They also told me they can take my child support payments for this debt. That is false. I pulled my credit report and it turns out that Capital One has written off my debt and sold it to MAB. They are NOT representing Capital One. Today I called and told her I had $800 and wanted to see if they would settle for that. I got this from the tax witholding from my ex for child support. She told me to wait on the line while she emailed Capital One to see if they would accept it. Then she told me that they said they'd settle for $837 but I had to send it in now through my checking account, debt card, or western union. She refused still to send me anything in writing other than an email. Now I was an accounting clerk for about 10 years and have done my share of collections. I know for a fact that they CAN send me something in writing. I believe they are doing this so that it's not a legitimate settlement. I will be calling Capital One tomorrow when I have access to my credit report and attempting to settle with them. I will not settle with MAB regardless of the amount.

I have been receiving calls on my CELL PHONE for days and days from an "877" number that I did not recognize. They were leaving automated messages that "Megan" (whom I am not)should return the call regarding an urgent matter. I finally returned the call to an EXTREMELY RUDE man-boy named "Brian" and told him to removed my number of well over 3 years. YES, I have had this cell phone number for 3 1/2 years and they are now calling to ask for someone that hasn't had this numer in her name for well over 3 YEARS!!! Sounds extremely SHADY to me to say the least!!! The rude little man-boy hung up on me...clearly displaying that not only did he not have any professionalism but that he possessed NO telephone etiquette AND YET HE WORKS AS A TELEMARKETER FOR A "COLLECTIONS" COMPANY. IF I WERE HE BOSS, I'D HAVE FIRED HIM ON THE SPOT!!! I would strongly advise to BEWARE of such companies CLAIMING to be debt collectors. A legitimate debt collection company will be more than polite and happy to work out terms for payment because that's how they make money!!! I am reporting this company to the Better Business Bureau and researching how to have Mercantile Adjustment Bureau reviewed!!! BEWARE!!! Furthermore, I called back to hear yet another EXTREMELY SHADY CHARACTER on the other end of the phone. I asked for the company's mailing address and he refused to give it to me and again I was hung up on. PLEASE realize the immaturity of a company like MERCANTILE ADJUSTMENT and seek professional advice from the Lawyer Referral Service in your area. Also, these companies should be reported to the Better Business Bureau if you feel the need. (Even though the BBB is also being scrutinized)

This information is for anyone in the Tampa area looking for collections work.

Quick Facts:

Extremely unprofessional
Same work environment as a High School
Low pay
Unattainable bonus goals
Poor equipment
Incompetent management
Worthless insurance
%99.8 turnover

Need more information? Read on.


This company is complete and utter horse shit. They lie strait to your face about the type of work they do and keep on lying when you start working there.

You will see job listings all over the internet stating they are looking for third party collections agents or people with collections experience. The contact will be /name removed/ with either her phone number /phone number removed/ or her email. She will bring you in for a interview, tell you she needs to interview other people, call you a few days later offering you the position, then call you back and tell you there is a problem with the scheduling of the training class and offer you a lesser position. In this job market who wouldn’t accept the other one? I made my intentions very clear and told her I would only accept the job if I would be moved over to third party when a position opens up. She agreed.

Three months later and four new hires in third party and I am still working in that low rent first party. I would ask her on a weekly basis when they would be hiring for third party and she would lie right to my face "oh were not bring in anyone in third party any time soon.."
Really?

They list the job as collections. But it’s as far from collections as you can get. I don't know about anyone else, but I have never worked for a collection agency or bank that had a QA list with 18 things on it that had to be verified on every call (even if you talk to debtor again the same day), makes a TL plug into every call, had the supervisor monitoring the call, and has a QA guy in the back scoring the call. You? Thought not. Sounds like customer service.. And low and behold you log into your system and look at your job title and it reads "Customer Service agent."

God help you if you do not hit everything on the QA sheet. And God help you if you deviate from the unwritten script. And dont even think about getting creative. Skip Tracing? HA! They would rather have you call a number that never picks up then look for another one. With practices like that no wonder M&I has posted a loss for the last two (going on three) years.

And FDCPA violations.. You will be doing at least one a day due to incompetence. Either incompetence in management or other coworkers. Management will have you call the same accounts 20 times a day while your coworkers will leave a message but not notate it on every account. Along with that they will change their company policies and tell you about a week later.

Look, this is not a rant. This is to give you a heads up on what you will be in for if you accept a job at this company. I know the job market is tough right now but if you are wanting a job in collections, this is not the place for you.

I got a strange call on my cell about a collection attempt against a business I used solely for debit card tracking purposes. I called them, concerned, because I had never had any loans, credit cards or anything on this account other than a debit card and cash account. They claimed Bank of America had turned this collection over to them. I replied that was ridiculous because I had closed that account a couple of months earlier, and BofA gave me back all the money that was in the account, and never mentioned I had an overdraft. They asked for a debit card number so they could pay the bill in full, since it was hurting my credit. I also had never gotten any letters about this so-called debt. I happened to be in my post office and found a badly addressed letter from them that the PO was going to return to sender. It stank of a fraud, so I took the letter into the bank, and they informed me it was a total scam. Nothing had ever occurred in my debit account to generate any collection action. These people are outrageous liars, and are predatory.

They knew I was an attorney, and probably figured I'd just pay the $348 rather than hurt my credit. Wrong! I'm reporting them to the NM Attorney General's office.

Don't let them bully you! You have the right to demand proof of any debt claimed that you owe, BEFORE PAYING IT. These guys were so insistent that I pay it right away, before any proof. When I asked for proof, the woman, Lisa, got extremely huffy.

Be warned.

Every time they called like today 9-2-2010 i told them that the credit card took out insurance and I am useing it since i became disabled 2002
We conitec to pay for this insurance until 2005 When the company stop the auto withdraws and there was no contact from them when we called they said it was sold. Now a $800 bill comes to $15, 000.00 today but they can settle for half that when i am still disabled and we have the insurance to pay for it but it just frozen the account for a while before they sold it. I am waiting for them to take us to court becuse its all fraud and harraments and i keep telling them to stop calling us.
Stop calling us.. Do not call us...but they called again today.