Florida AG Keeps Hitting Jacksonville Collectors

The Attorney General of Florida has four cases pending against collection agencies in Jacksonville as the city grows to become a major player for financial call centers in the state. But the office of Florida AG Bill McCollum says he doesn’t have anything against the city.

In July, Bill McCollum, Florida’s AG, filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against Bass & Associates for what he said were “egregious breaches” of the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and violations of the Consumer Collections Practices Act and the federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act ("State AG Suing Collection Agency for $1.3 million," July 3). A January hearing is scheduled for McCollum’s request to shutter Bass operations during the investigation.

Just last week, McCollum’s office announced a settlement with Allen Lewis Associates for around $51,000 ("Florida Collector Settles with State AG," Nov. 29). McCollum had charged the company with deceptive business practices.

According to a spokesperson in the attorney general’s office, McCollum currently has four cases pending against debt collection agencies in Jacksonville. In addition to the Bass and Allen Lewis cases, investigators are looking into JBC Associates and Ellis Crosby & Associates, according to The Florida Times-Union. Ellis Crosby was sued back in 2005 under Attorney General Charlie Crist over excessive consumer complaints and FDCPA violations. McCollum’s office could not confirm if its current investigation is an extension of the 2005 case.

The spokesperson said that there isn’t a specific reason for the cases against the four agencies. “The companies just happen to be in Jacksonville,” she said.

The recent trend could be a result of the growth of the collection market in Jacksonville, said the spokesperson. “The city is a large financial services call center area,” she said.

The chief operating officer of one of the largest collection agencies in Jacksonville agreed. “There is a lot of collection activity here,” said Kirk Moquin of Enhanced Recovery Corp. “But a lot of it is first party work. Citigroup, Bank of America and others have call centers here. So I guess many collection agencies are sprouting up out of that.”

Enhanced has some 400 employees in the Jacksonville area in two offices. The company is opening another call center next year in Waycross, Ga., a town about 75 miles from Jacksonville.

Moquin is not overly concerned with the attention Jacksonville agencies have been receiving. “We have a very strong compliance department. We do not operate in a ‘gray area’ when it comes to compliance, so we will continue to operate that way,” he said.