Connecticut Closes Collector Accelerated

A Connecticut collection agency has been shut down by regulators there for improper use of debtors’ money and failing to open its financial records to the state.

The Connecticut State Department of Banking recently issued a cease and desist order against Waterbury-based Accelerated Collections Systems, Inc., claiming that the firm denied the regulator access to the firm’s books and that it “commingled money collected for creditors with [its] own funds and used the creditor’s money to conduct business.”

State law requires that regulators be allowed to examine collection firm financial records.

The banking department’s complaint further stated that Accelerated had effectively terminated its business before mid-November because President Raymond Beaulieu had not been in the company’s office since Oct. 24 and Vice President Sandra A. Kinney had resigned three weeks earlier. Additionally, the complaint said only one of the company’s 16 employees remained at the time of the cease and desist order.

The complaint includes a notice that the state intends to refuse to renew the company’s collection agency license. According to the complaint, Accredited has been licensed in the state since Nov. 9, 1981. The state is seeking civil fines of up to $300,000. No hearing date or other action has been scheduled on the cease and desist order.

Accelerated could not be contacted.