904-721-3705

Someone called my neighbor asking for my adult son (who doesn't live here) and left a message that if he didn't call her within the hour charges would be filed. The caller said she was with "Workforce"-something. There was a word after "workforce" but it wasn't clear.  I contacted my son who said he had a credit card that went to collection - the only thing he knew of that it might be about.

Called stating that his name is William Dean of William Dean and Assoc. a law firm. Stating that i need to have money in there by the close of business on friday. This is the same man that called me stating that his name was soomething else. These people are crazy and the need to brought to justice.

For helpful advice on protecting yourself from crooked debt collectors and shyster lawyers, check out www.budhibbs.com

This is a criminal organization run by Lisa G. Waters of 1679 Dockside Drive, Orange Park, FL 32003, born 12/1965. She has hundreds of thousands of dollars in judgments against her, was recently fined by the IL Attorney General for telling people the state would take their kids for not paying a bill. Lisa has a long history as a con artists and extortionist, no one should ever send money to either name, above. They cannot do anything to anyone. Lisa is a LIAR!

Smith Dean & Associates Responds to anonymous internet rants
The internet is a very influential and effective part of any business in today's fast paced, global economy. A major problem that comes from this is that anyone can post anything they want to about a company without any truth or consequence on the many internet outlets. Many times, after a professional and ethical company is smeared through anonymous ratings, it is the company's good reputation that is in the end, unfairly tarnished.

We would like to set the record straight and state the facts for all to understand once and for all.

Before any one of our clients place an account with us, or any other collection agency, they attempt to collect the debt themselves for 30-90 days before placing the DELINQUENT debtor to us. After our client (the lender) realizes the debtor (the borrower) is not going to pay them, they then forward the now very past due balance to us (the collector).

The ridiculous nature of the statements made by the complainants (the debtor) is that not a single one of these people ranting about us and other collection agencies will take one ounce of responsibility for the fact that they borrowed $ MONEY $ from some business and DID NOT PAY IT BACK!! In many instances, these individuals broke laws by writing worthless checks.

They also fail to mention that every one of them could have worked out an affordable payment plan with our client (the lender) during the 30-90 days before we received the account. After breaking every payment arrangement or flat out just not paying the debt, they decide to go to the internet and post anonymous comments making them out to be the VICTIM!

We maintain that we follow the letter and the spirit of the law in every instance in attempting to collect a debt. Furthermore we are always in complete compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

All we can say is that in a perfect world, if the borrower (now debtor), would have paid back the monies they borrowed in the first place, there would be no reason for us to be contacting them at all.

So potential clients, please keep in mind, the people who are on the internet complaining about collection agencies are the very people who have taken your money and refuse to pay you back. YOU ARE THE VICTIM. Not them...........

Smith Dean & Associates Responds to anonymous internet rants
The internet is a very influential and effective part of any business in today's fast paced, global economy. A major problem that comes from this is that anyone can post anything they want to about a company without any truth or consequence on the many internet outlets. Many times, after a professional and ethical company is smeared through anonymous ratings, it is the company's good reputation that is in the end, unfairly tarnished.

We would like to set the record straight and state the facts for all to understand once and for all.

Before any one of our clients place an account with us, or any other collection agency, they attempt to collect the debt themselves for 30-90 days before placing the DELINQUENT debtor to us. After our client (the lender) realizes the debtor (the borrower) is not going to pay them, they then forward the now very past due balance to us (the collector).

The ridiculous nature of the statements made by the complainants (the debtor) is that not a single one of these people ranting about us and other collection agencies will take one ounce of responsibility for the fact that they borrowed $ MONEY $ from some business and DID NOT PAY IT BACK!! In many instances, these individuals broke laws by writing worthless checks.

They also fail to mention that every one of them could have worked out an affordable payment plan with our client (the lender) during the 30-90 days before we received the account. After breaking every payment arrangement or flat out just not paying the debt, they decide to go to the internet and post anonymous comments making them out to be the VICTIM!

We maintain that we follow the letter and the spirit of the law in every instance in attempting to collect a debt. Furthermore we are always in complete compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

All we can say is that in a perfect world, if the borrower (now debtor), would have paid back the monies they borrowed in the first place, there would be no reason for us to be contacting them at all.

So potential clients, please keep in mind, the people who are on the internet complaining about collection agencies are the very people who have taken your money and refuse to pay you back. YOU ARE THE VICTIM. Not them...........

I recieved this message on my home phone one night when I was home alone. The man said if we didn't call back within the hour they would be "sending someone" out to our home to identify us. That there was a FELONY out on us and repeated our address! He said he needed to speak to Mr.& Mrs.K..(my ex whom I have been divorced from 14 yrs. ago!) Of course I was scared not knowing what this was all about. All kinds of frightening thoughts went through my head. In a crazy world I didn't know if or who would be showing up at my house! When my husband came home I played the recording for him, he knew right away it was a collection agency by looking the number up on Google! This agency not only had the wrong person but had me shaking and MAD! How do they get away with this kind of terrorism on people? I have NEVER been in collections I pay my bills! My answering machine answers calls to my new married name but these people didn't care. They use SCARE TACTICS GUESSING THEY HAVE THE RIGHT PERSON...NOT CARING IF THEY DON'T OR HOW FRIGHTENING AND UPSETTING THEIR BOGUS LIES SOUND TO THE PERSON WHO GETS THAT MESSAGE ON THE OTHER END! THIS SHOULD NOT BE LEGAL!

My BS Detector was set off by that rant, so I decided to do a little due diligence.  What's this about your outfit getting kicked out of Illinois?

http://caveatemptorblog.com/2009/01/26/florid ... he-illinois-ag/

http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=Smith+ ... 2&max-year=2009

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/394/RipOff0394068.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/392/RipOff0392106.htm

Restraining order issued in Wabash County Circuit Court halting collection agency’s actions in Illinois

By BOB LIVINGSTON — staff writer
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit in Wabash County Circuit Court against a Jacksonville, Fla. collection agency for allegedly employing deceptive collection practices and using threatening and abusive language while attempting to collect alleged debts on behalf of payday loan companies.

Associate Judge Joe Harrison of Wayne County has set an hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. in the Wabash County Circuit Court concerning a Jan. 21 restraining order, which halts a Jacksonville, Fla.-based collection agency from doing business in Illinois.

The order is part of a lawsuit brought against the collection agency, Smith, Dean and Associated, formerly known as United Processing, by Attorney General Madigan. The action also names Lisa Waters Smith, individual and as president an director of Smith, Dean and Associates, and United Processing.

The suit alleges that United Processing, as well as Smith, Dean, sold and distributed debt collection services to Illinois creditors seeking to recover debts from Illinois residents who were residing in the state at the time of the collection attempt.

Madigan’s suit alleges that between Jan. 1 and July 31, 2008 United represented itself as having the ability to act on behalf of creditors in Illinois, but that statement is untrue. At least five Illinois residents filed an affidavit concerning United’s practices in attempting to collect debts.

Attorney General Madigan said about the case, “These defendants used malicious tactics to bully alleged debtors, their family members and even their employers. This case in an egregious example of the unscrupulous methods often used to collect debts. These methods violate consumers’ rights and certainly will not be tolerated in Illinois.”

Madigan is asking the court to enter a permanent injunction preventing the defendants from engaging in debt collection services in Illinois. The suit also seeks to have the court order the defendants to pay fees, franchise taxes and penalties for their failure to obtain approval to operate in Illinois as an out-of-state corporation and file the legally-required documents.

Madigan is also asking the court to order the defendants to play a civil penalty of $50,000, additional penalties of $50,000 for each act committee with intent to defraud, and costs for the investigation and prosecution of the case.

The suit alleges, also, that United representatives, as well as Smith, Dean representatives, used abusive language in its efforts to intimidate alleged debtors, that it used profane and abusive language to persons not the debtor and disclosed to a person not the alleged debtor that the alleged debtor owed a debt and made this disclosure while the defendant was attempting to obtain location information about the alleged debtor.

The suit alleges these actions by Smith, Dean as well as United Processing, were in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and in violation of the Business Corporation Act.

Actions alleged by United Processing and Smith, Dean and Associated include disclosing private information about alleged debtors to persons that did not have the right to such information, such as employers who did not have a legitimate business need for that information; did not provide five days prior the written notice to the alleged debtor that United intended to communicate with the alleged debtors’ employer; and failed to obtain authorization by law or a court of competent jurisdiction to make such contact.

Other alleged actions, according to the suit, included the making of threats that included unless the alleged debtors paid the debt immediately the Department of Family Services would remove their children; threatened alleged debtors with arrest by the sheriff; threatened alleged debtors with criminal proceedings; and threatened the alleged debtors with two years in a federal prison.

The callers also represented themselves as attorneys, according to Madigan’s suit.

United, which voluntarily dissolved its existence in Florida on or about Oct. 22, 2008, was not authorized to do business in Illinois. It was also not licensed with any state having reciprocal licensing provisions with Illinois.

United changed its name to Smith, Dean and Associates on or about Nov. 10, 2008. However, there were no changes to its office numbers, management, address or in products or services.

United operated at least from July 7, 2007 in Illinois as a collection agency and attempted to collect alleged debts from Illinois residents.

http://www.tristate-media.com/articles/2009/0 ... /news/news4.prt

I also got a call from a Robert Davis at this number saying that charges had been filed against me, and if I didn't call within 3 hours I was waiving my right to an attorney. I called back the next day, and they said that the issue (whatever it was) had been resolved.

I got a call stating i was going to jail if i did not call by the end of the night..Will be sending this to be checked on i did save the threats and so did my family as these messages have been passed around to my family members.

I have been getting calls from them too but since I've seen that 'Dateline' show recently where this is just a scare tactic.  No one can put you in jail for not paying a bill.

MY GOD LISTEN TO ALL YOU PEOPLE!!! ALL OF YOU HAVE THE SAME THING IN COMMON, YOU TOOK MONEY AND DIDNT PAY IT BACK!!!! GROW UP AND STOP BEING LOOSERS YOUR WHOLE LIFES, INSTEAD OF COMING HERE LOOKING FOR MORE EXCUSES NOT TO PAY MONEY YOU TOOK , HOW ABOUT THIS PAY YOUR BAD CHECKS, AND WE WOULDNT BE CALLING YOU!!! YOU WENT TO A PAYDAY LOAN COMPANY BECAUSE YOU HAVE SCREWED OVER EVERY CREDITOR YOU HAVE EVER HAD, YOUR FAMILY NO LONGER TRUST YOU WITH MONEY, AND YOU HAVE BEEN FORCED (BY YOUR HISTORY) TO TAKE MONEY FROM A HIGH RISK LENDER AND NOW YOU HAVE SCREWED THEM TOO!! NOW YOUR ON THIS WEB SIGHT CRYING POOR ME, IVE BEEN HARRASED!! YOU STOLE $$$ PAY IT BACK AND WE WOULDNT BE CALLING ANY OF YOU!!!!!

we dont collect on credit cards we collect on worthless checks

who should really be broght to justice, us who calls you because you borrowed money, bouced a check for repayment of that loan, then for 3 months avoids the people who lent you the money (if you paid them $10.00 a month they wouldnt have placed you here) and forces them to pay us to get you to pay your debt.. wow it seems like you really are the problem here doesnt it!!! stop taking money and not paying it back

yes as soon as we realized you had to be licenced in il. we ceased all of our accounts in il.

messages left with your family members are #s you (The debtor) put down on you app. as references. you never minded when they called them when you were trying to borrow the money but its not ok to call them when you dont pay that money back! wow

i agree those people on dateline deserve to be shot. how stupid are those people. they give everyone of us (collectors)a bad name. buttttttttt then people like you (the debtor) use those very rare occasions (bad apples) as your excuse! come on.....no one here says anything remotely close to those people, but here you are, poor me im the victim, i took money and didnt pay it back, and i cant understand why collectors are calling me??? (because you stole $$$$$$$) it doesnt get much simpler then this does it. borrow $$ pay it back, dont and bill collectors call you...knucklehead!!!

we are people just like you guys, we have kids to feed and times are hard for us too. but please stop blaming us for the simple fact ...you took money and havent paid it back. you all know that before we got your account that our clients called you and all but begged you to pay them back. they offered you interest free payment plans, and you still didnt pay them back. now we call you and you get all upset and go to this very web sight and cry how you are being harrassed. dont borrow $$, dont bouce checks, dont avoid your legal dues, just be nice to us, and we will be nice to you. just pay your $$ back and you will never hear from us ever again. thanks

as stated below we ceased collections on all accounts in il. as soon as we were made known that you had to be licenced in that state. ok just that simple. ok now how about you my friend. whats your excuse. why did you go to one of our clients office, ask soooooo nicely to borrow money. took it, spent it, and decided wellllll i just dont feel like paying my bill today. i will make the honest people who do pay their bills pay for mine. i know you are smart and understand this money just doesnt go away, someone has to pay it, and its the people who doooooo pay their bill. sooooo why did you feel like everyone else should pay the money you spent??? heres you answer (you are not honest), since your parents didnt teach you this very important lession (i will) when you borrow money, you pay it back. when you make people pay other people to get you to pay because they gave up hope of ever getting you pay them back, you are no longer a customer, you are now a debtor. so customers are treated very nicely (rember how they treated you when you told them you would pay them back) well you didnt now you are a debtor, we have to call you, call the people you put down on you apps. and remind you over and over to please just pay them their money back..... not hard is it. thanks