Oregon Attorney General John Kroger has announced St. Louis Park, Minn.-based collection agency Allied Interstate will pay $90,000 to settle abusive collection charges.
An estimated 200 consumer complaints have been filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Allied Interstate in the past five years, according to a news release from the AG's office.
The complaints include alleged violations of several prohibitions under the Oregon and Federal Debt Collection Practices Acts. Specifically, the company is said to have repeatedly called Oregon consumers, even after being told they were not the intended debtor and used obscene or profane language and harassed third parties with repeated phone calls.
The agreement permanently bars Allied Interstate from several actions, including lying to collect or attempt to collect a debt; communicating with or continuing to call an Oregon resident once informed that they have called the wrong number, or once a resident has stated a desire not to be contacted; and using obscene or profane language or harassing consumers or third parties with repeated phone calls.
Allied Interstate must pay an additional $50,000 if it fails to abide any terms in the agreement. Allied Interstate was not immediately available for comment.
The settlement marks the third time in less than six months that Allied Interstate has been disciplined by a government regulator for alleged violations of consumer protection laws. In October, the firm agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission that it tried to collect debts people didn’t owe and threatened legal action it didn’t intend to take. It was the second-largest civil fine obtained by the FTC (
And in January, Allied Interstate was among eight collection firms in Minnesota ordered to clean up their hiring practices after the state Commerce Department alleged they violated state law by failing to conduct criminal background checks of collectors before registering them with the state.
