"I Want My Two [plus 574,998] Dollars!"

By Sam Bakken in News on Dec 15, 2004 9:41PM

The state wants $575,000 in grant money back from a shady debt-collection agency that the FTC shut down last week. The company is Capital Acquisitions and Management Co. and a U.S. District court judge froze the company's assets and principals last week due to allegations that they used intimidation and lies to collect debts. Some of the company's employees have said 50-80 percent of consumers that paid CAMCO didn't owe any money just to stop the harassment.

Illinois gave the company the grant so they could purchase offices in Rockford and train staff. The state was also set to give the company over $3 million in tax breaks over the next ten years to create and maintain 300 jobs during that time.

CAMCO specialized in collecting "time-barred" debts. Because of statutes of limitation, many of these debts are too old to pursue in court. Complaints said company employees used profanities and many times would pose as lawyers and threaten people with jail time if they didn't pay up. All the money they collected went right to CAMCO and the company made almost $60 million in three years.

Bill collectors suck. Chicagoist is terrified by them (especially the robot ones). We don't have pristine credit so we've had some experience. But confronting a debt collector and a little role-playing could help us get over our fears. We're wondering if the state would allow us to go after CAMCO for the money. We promise to be polite.