800-781-3445

Brown Cooper Associates was dissolved. It was created 1/8/09 and dissolved 5/27/2010 (this agency is registered in Gwinnett county). Then on 6/17/2010 Kevin Brown 'formed' Brown Cooper Group in Walton County.

Brown Stein and Weissman was only formed in April of 2010. The Linkedin profile for Brown Cooper Associates is quite impressive (rolls eyes!) - filled with a lot of . . . I don't even know what. . . Sheesh.

Kevin Brown’s Experience
Owner/Partner
Brown, Cooper & Associates
(Financial Services industry)

January 2009 — Present (1 year 8 months)

BROWN, COOPER & ASSOCIATES, LLC (BCA), will establish itself as a leader in the charged-off receivables industry. As a purchaser and servicer of distressed receivables, BCA leverages proven industry experience, advanced technology and uncompromising ethical business standards to emerge as a dominant competitor. The focus on our mission allows BCA to build a dynamic performance record that provides positive visibility in the industry. As a result, BCA continues to attract a quality workforce and valuable business relationships that ensure future growth and profitability.

Through continued investment in people, information technology and process refinement, BCA secures its future by building a flexible infrastructure supporting the Company’s growth. Experienced and qualified people, with their time-tested skills, abilities and knowledge, provide BCA with depth and potential for long term success. Sophisticated technology allows BCA a means to realize maximum efficiencies in collection processes. Well-defined collections policies, procedures and controls that govern all business functions provide BCA a solid strategy for organic growth.

Through the execution of its business plan, BCA will emerge as a leading financial services organization possessing the essential framework to succeed in our dynamic industry. BCA's competitive advantage will secure its status among the top 10 buyers of distressed debt and the top 100 consumer and commercial collection agencies in the United States.

BCA will function as a debt buyer at the initial start, while growth increases.BCA will purchase portfolio’s, and liquidate them utilizing out-side collections agencies this will include all investor portfolios. Using this strategized procedure, it will maximize profitability for both The Company and the investor.

You can also file a complaint with the Georgia Secretary of State - this is the agency that grants Kevin his business liscences.

http://www.sos.ga.gov/myverification/SubmitComplaint.aspx

You can also file a complaint with the Georgia Secretary of State - this is the agency that grants Kevin his business liscences.

http://www.sos.ga.gov/myverification/SubmitComplaint.aspx

I recieved this call and when I told them I had been in contact with the company they said they were representing the women I talked to said to hold for a supervisor and then I was disconnected.  When I asked her to send me something in writing she said that would be a warrent and that it would be served by the sheriff's office.    This also got me put on hold and then hung up on.  This is a scam.

if you dont want to pay dont pay, but heres the thing we have all of your information social, routing number, and account number (where the payday loan was deposited.) If we wanted to scam you why would we even call you?

because its not 'stealing' if you can convince us to AGREE to pay you - what it is is extortion.

My 8 year old can get someones ssn and bank info off the internet - having that doesnt make you legitimate. What you don't have is any origional contract and what you aren't doing is following the laws. If its not a scam and you are a legitimate company then you should have no problem fulfilling peoples requests for validation and mailing copies of the origional contract - but you can't, can you?

Your eight year old can get a ssn and routing number and account number?... anyone else wanna say [***]? Besides you the only people that have all of that information is the IRS and Government. If it was so easy then why doesn't everyone have their identity stolen? Anyway since that argument is invalid now, I can give you your client number and the payday loan centers number and they will verify it for you.

They are just like these guys, only in the United States.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1

They are just like these guys, only in the United States.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1

You are literally to stupid to insult.   No sheriff's department anywhere in the US would serve papers about unpaid bills.   If you are going to post something on here to try to scare people then at least make your lies are more believable

No, Kerry it's not against the law.  It's a civil matter, not a criminal one.   The fact that you are stating that it's against the law proves that it's a scam.

They maybe legit but their tactics are highly illegal.  They are breaking mulitple FDCPA laws.   Threatening criminal charges, refusing to provide debt validation, and not ceasing to call when told not to.  Just to name a few of their violations.

Dear panama,

Like Lamet posted, the sheriffs department DID NOT call your house.  YOU CAN NOT BE SERVED AN ARREST WARRANT FOR UNPAID BILLS YOU MORON.  Try a different scare tactic.

For the sake of argument let's just say the you are the owner.  You have way bigger problems than your employees stating that you are a law firm.  They are breaking mulitple FDCPA laws.   You might want to look into that "OWNER".  Also it's very unproffesional that you are the so called "OWNER" and you are unaware of what your employees are doing.  I don't think that would hold up as a valid excuse in court.

16 STATES HAVE BANNED PAYDAY LOANS - not just GA..  

If you live in ONE of those 16 STATES - NO PAYDAY LOAN COMPANY can approve a loan to anyone who lives in those states. If they did - the LOAN itself was ILLEGAL. The PAYDAY LOAN is held responsible for this.  

PAYDAY LOAN ABUSES http://www.affil.org/consumer_rsc/payday.php#abuses

False threats:  Payday lenders sometimes threaten borrowers with criminal prosecution for writing “bad” checks.  In fact, there is nothing illegal about writing these checks (if there were, payday lenders would be aiding and abetting a crime each time that they told a borrower to write a post-dated check). .Nevertheless, many consumers are terrified by these false threats of criminal prosecution.
Internet lending:  Using the Internet to borrow money increases the possibility of harm to the borrower.  Internet lenders are generally not  physically located in the borrower’s state and often aren’t even based  in the U.S.  They may lend over the Internet in order to avoid the protections of applicable state laws and to make it virtually impossible for the borrower or any government agency to find them.  In addition, borrowing over the Internet increases the chances of identity theft and other privacy violations.


Disguised loans:  Some payday lenders pretend that they are selling goods or services in exchange for a check.  Others engage in “sale-lease” shams where the lender will “buy” some item of personal property and lease it back for a “rental” payment due in two weeks.  This differs from what a pawnbroker does because the lender doesn’t hold onto the item involved


Which States Ban Payday Lending?
High cost payday loans are illegal in 15 states.  As of the end of 2008, the following states outlaw these very expensive loans:  
                  ARIZONA
    Arkansas
    Connecticut
    Georgia
    Maine
    Maryland
    Massachusetts
    New Hampshire
    New Jersey
    New York
    North Carolina
    Ohio
    Oregon
    Pennsylvania
    Vermont
    West Virginia
Payday loans are also illegal in the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  
In November 2008, voters in Ohio and Arizona soundly defeated payday loan industry ballot initiatives to preserve lenders’ rights to charge 391% APR.  Read the Center for Responsible Lending’s webpage about these victories.
In addition, Congress banned payday lending to service members and their families.

more on payday loan bans and how these loan sharks are violating laws to loan in states where they have banned..

West Virginia Sues Eight Payday Lenders
Firms charged with using Internet to circumvent state law


August 24, 2010


West Virginia is one of a handful of states that have banned payday loans. So when lenders use the Internet to do business with residents of that state, the state's attorney general goes to court.
West Virginia Attorney Darrell McGraw has filed suit, asking the Court to order the eight companies, which have refused to cooperate with his investigation, to surrender the records of their West Virginia-based accounts and to halt lending activities in the state.
Payday loans are high-interest loans or cash advances with interest rates that reach as high as 600-to-800 percent APR. The loans, typically made for 14 days, are secured by a post-dated check or an agreement authorizing electronic debits from the consumer's checking account.
"When a company sets foot in West Virginia, whether in person or over the Internet, my office has a duty to ensure the enterprise complies with state law," McGraw said. "Any company that makes payday loans must halt its usurious business and produce records identifying its victims."
The companies and principals sued by Attorney General McGraw's office are:
• Payday Loan Resource Center LLC and Moe Tassoudi of Scottsdale, AZ;
• DirectROI d/b/a Cash West Payday Loans and Mike Brewster of Chandler, AZ;
• First American Credit;
• LoanPointe LLC, Joe E. Strom, Benjamin J. Lonsdale, James C. Endicott and Mark S. Lofgren of Highland, UT;
• Eastbrook LLC d/b/a Ecash and GeteCash of Provo, UT;
• National Title Loans d/b/a National Cash 12 of Elsmere, DE;
• Payday Financial LLC d/b/a www.LakotaCash.com and Martin Webb of Timber Lake, SD;
• Payday Loans-ACH d/b/a www.ACHLoans.com of Emeryville, CA.
End run
McGraw says Payday Loan Resource Center attempts to circumvent state law by charging West Virginia customers a monthly fee to help them obtain Internet payday loans. A suit filed earlier this year by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Ecash and GeteCash with attempting to garnish wages without a court order. Lakota Cash claims to be an Indian tribe and therefore not subject to the laws of any state.
Since McGraw began investigating the industry in 2005, his office has reached settlements with 107 Internet payday lenders and their collection agencies, resulting in $2,452,979.87 in refunds and canceled debts for 8044 West Virginians.
"Payday loans are predatory traps for the many West Virginians facing difficult times," McGraw said. "We will continue to ask the courts to intervene whenever companies refuse to cooperate with our efforts to protect West Virginia citizens."

The BOGUS DEBT COLLECTOR IS LOCATED IN GA.

That is why you report them to the GA Attorney General as well as your own STATE Attorney General.

Debt collectors must FOLLOW YOUR STATE''s licensing requirements, Check your secretary of state website to see if they are.  IF not they are contacting you ILLEGALLY.

They change their names to avoid paying judgements on FDCPA lawsuits.

I figured as much.

From the Attorney General. Lets just say for fun the debt BSW is calling you about is valid (even though in my case it's not). And lets just assume they are a ligitimate compnay (unfortunatally there are no requirements to be a collection agency in GA. Any idiot with $100 and a business liscence form can start a 'collection agency'.  BUT  THAT SAID - They still have laws to follow and you have rights!! Here are some tips from the AG for dealing with them:

According to the Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section, here's what you can do:

If a collection agency or debt collector threatens you in any way, hang up and file a complaint with Attorney General's office.
If a collection agency or debt collector declines to provide you with a record of the debt, hang up and file a complaint.
If you dispute a debt a collection agency attributed to you in a timely fashion, the collection agency must provide some proof that you actually owe the debt before contacting you again.
If you would like to have a collection agency stop calling you at work or home, you must send a letter to the collection agency. A phone call is not sufficient. Once a collection agency receives your letter, they are barred from contacting you.
If you inform a debt collector that you are not the subject of the debt, they must stop calling you.

When dealing with debt collectors, keep copies of all of your correspondence, including any payments.
After you have asked a debt collection agency to stop contacting you, for whatever reason, they may only contact you via a lawsuit.

If you believe they have been defrauded or harassed by a debt collection agency, real or fake, file a complaint online on the attorney general's website in georgia AND your state.

You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online on the F.T.C.'s website or over the phone at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).