800-542-9121

This person keeps on calling me. I had tried to call back and from what the message says, it seems like a collection agency.

Yep. And they are called IC Systems:

http://www.icsystem.com/industries/financial/index.htm

They belong to the NOTORIOUS AFNI, Inc., who are scumbag bottom feeders attempting to collect on bogus Verizon/GTE accounts dating back to the early 90's.

Read more about them on Budd Hibbs's website. Stay OFF the phone!!

http://www.budhibbs.com/debtcollectorpages/AFNI.htm

I got a call from this number at my place of business and the woman left me a voicemail message identifying her to be Lisa from IC System with the most supremacy’s voice you can imagine.  She also told me that time is running out and it would be in my best interest to call her back!  These people have a lot of nerve harassing people at their workplace.

they are collections, but must pick up on really old thing that have already been paid. My is froma hardware store from approx. 1987 and it was paid off the also try sending me bills for thousand on a account the has not had a balance in 22 years. Crazy!!!!!!!

Had a voice mail from female identifying herself as Allie.  That I need to call her ASAP.  No explanation of why or who she was with.  I google the phone number and read a lot of the emails that were sent in.

Still can't decide if it is legit or not.

The calls I get from this place are legit. They are trying to collect on a Target store credit card.

Got a call from Ashley - you must return my call today - this is not a solicitation - but this MUST be handled today!  Based on these comments - I'm ignoring it!  Thanks!

they call every day. i answer the phone and then they hang up.  what a bunch of morons.

One of Afni’s lowest tricks is the “Settlement Offer” (Other low-order debt-buyers have started using this one too) They say you can “settle your account” for a fairly small percentage of the original total (which often they have fraudulently inflated)  Not only does this reactivate the SOL for collecting and reporting on a dead account, but as soon as they get your money, these lowlifes turn around and sell off the uncollected balance to yet another debt-buyer!  Don’t fall for this scam!
  This financial leper colony has been around for a long time, but may be on their way out. It is no accident that these parasites deal almost exclusively in worthless, expired “Junk Debt” these days. Over the last decade or so their business  practices have degenerated to the point where very few “Contingency” clients will sully their reputations by dealing with them at all and even Verizon may pull the plug unless they clean up their act.  Keep it up, Afni, the F.T.C. is watching and we could all do with one less snake pit like yours!

The SOL for reporting a debt on your credit report is 7 years from the date it became 180 days past due. It doesn't matter if it was sold 20 times, it's the same amount of time. If you find that happened on your credit report, you can easily fight it and get it removed.

If you set up a payment arrangement with a collection agency, that still doesn't start a new clock on the credit report but you have to make sure it doesn't start a new clock on the SOL in your state of how long they can collect and or sue you to collect the debt.

There is also nothing wrong with a settlement offer as long as you get something in writing saying that the debt will be reported as "paid in full" or "settled as agreed". Then there isn't anything for them to sell off.

Collection agencies will only go away if we all pay our debts on time. Creditors are not going to stop using them and as consumers get smarter, so do the collectors. The way to fight a collection agency is to know your rights and the laws.

Just got a call from some guy looking for someone that doesn't live here. I couldn't hardly hear the message it was so static and cracking on the other end so I listened to it three times called it back and told them no such person lived here. He said what number is this and who was I looking for?? I said you should know that. It's your job.!!! So I hung up on him, told him I researched his number and on the internet it said bogus things about them. The funny thing is we have no debt but our house crazy!!!

I got a call today that asked me to call back at this number. This was an unusual call due to:
1. I never heard the phone ring
2. There was no indication in my "missed call" list of this call
3. There was no indication that there was a voice mail message
A while after I got this call, a friend called and left a message. That's when I heard the voice mail for this mysterious phone call.The message said "please call Rachel at IC systems regarding an important personal business matter --- 1-800-542-9121 X2381" (and that is the complete text of the message left). I was able to obtain the time of the call, but not the number it came from. The best available research indicates that IC Systems is a debt collection agency that sometimes deals on the illegal side of the FDCPA. I am well aware of the fact that companies often sell their accounts receivables (debts owed them) to third party agencies (often for a fraction of what the actual debt is), but, I would think that the company would have to notify the debtor that their particular debt has been so sold, and to whom it was sold. Also, when these so-called collection agencies contact you, they almost never identify the original owner of the debt, and they sometimes represent themselves as a collection department of the original company (for instance, if you owe the phone company money, and the phone company sells your debt to IC Systems, IC Systems will represent themselves as the collection department of the phone company. I still get calls and letters from the original creditor and a collection agency (if applicable). Is it legal for an original creditor to contact you after it sold your debt to someone else? Also, I would sure like to know how these collection agencies can get there phone number to not display on a caller ID device (or display as 000-000-0000 and/or 999-999-9999), and not show up as a restricted or unavailable call.

I simply refuse to deal with companies/agencies other than the original creditors, especially when these so-called collection agencies can be nasty, abusive, and operate in a sometimes illegal manner.

Woman Sues Debt Collector, Wins $83 Million

A Missouri jury ordered a debt buyer to pay nearly $83 million to a Kansas City woman it pursued for a $1,000 credit card bill she didn't owe, NPR affiliate KCUR reports. The jury found Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC guilty of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, for which it will pay $250,000 in damages, as well as maliciously prosecuting the woman, Maria Guadalupe Mejia, over the debt that did not belong to her. For the malicious prosecution, the jury awarded Mejia $82,990,000 in punitive damages.

PRA Group Inc., which owns Portfolio Recovery Associates, sent an email statement to Credit.com:

"This outlandish verdict defies all common sense," wrote spokesman Michael McKeon. "We hope and expect the judge will set aside this inappropriate award, and we plan to file motions to make that request formally in the near term. Any fair reading of the facts of this case makes plain that a verdict of this size is not justice by any means, and cannot stand."

Portfolio Recovery, one of the nation's largest debt buyers, sued Mejia in February 2013 over the credit card debt, though the actual debtor turned out to be a man in Kansas City, Kansas, with a name similar to Mejia's. The company pursued Mejia for the debt for 15 months after she first received notice of the lawsuit. In a written statement to KCUR, Mejia said, "The lawsuit terrified me."

Fear is a common consumer response to debt collectors, whether the debt is legitimate or not. The first thing consumers should do when they hear from a debt collector is ask the collector to validate the debt in writing — it's crucial to know your debt collection rights as a consumer, so you don't end up paying a debt you don't owe or letting the collection account unnecessarily damage your credit standing.  (You can see if a collection account is affecting your credit scores for free on Credit.com.)

If you're unsure of how to approach a debt collection situation, you may want to consult a consumer law attorney, who may review your case for free, to help you understand whether the collector is violating your rights. If the debt is old, it could be past your state's statute of limitations for collection. You can also consult this state-by-state guide to debt collection statutes of limitation to see where you stand.