For those of you that are digging for dirt to see if the following debt collection agency is a bad bill collector, we hope that thisinformation can help:

Alternate Business Names:
Convergent
E R Solutions, Inc.
E R S

Website:

http://www.convergentusa.com

Locations:
Atlanta HQ
Six Concourse Parkway, Suite 2920
Atlanta, GA 30328
Tel: 770.730.0015
Tel: 888.858.0116

219 Perimeter Center Parkway NE
Atlanta, GA 30346
Tel: 800.444.8485

1040 Stevens Creek Road
Augusta, GA 30907

125 Wolf Road
Albany, NY 12205
Tel: 877.251.7385
Tel: 888.511.7901

301 Yamato Road, Suite 4200
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Tel: 877.778.0662
Tel: 888.511.7901

3232 W Royal Lane
Irving, TX 75063
Tel: 866.390.9935
Tel: 888.511.7901

2550 West Shaw Avenue
Fresno, CA 93711
Tel: 800.576.6941
Tel: 888.511.7901

13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 300
Gainesville, VA 20155
Tel: 888.511.7901
Tel: 888.511.7901

10750 Hammerly Blvd., Suite 200
Houston, TX 77043
Tel: 800.444.8485

2400 Presidents Drive, 4th Floor
Montgomery, AL 36116
Tel: 800.444.8485

124 SW Adams Street, Suite 215
Peoria, IL 61602
Tel: 800.706.4357
Tel: 888.511.7901

10050 N 25th Avenue, Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85021
Tel: 800.444.8485

800 SW 39th Street
Renton, WA 98057
Tel: 800.444.8485

925 Westchester Avenue, First Floor
White Plains, NY 10604
Tel: 914.421.7900
Tel: 800.431.1262

Contact Information:

Steven J Hunter, President
Robert Newman, Complaint contact
Jeffery Hunter, Vice President of Collections
Anne Carlson. Director

Convergent Resources, Inc (Convergent) is a debt collection agency that specializes in commercial services, including contingent collections, outsourcing, letter campaign, and consulting services. The company has been confused by many as their no longer existent sister company, ER Solutions, Inc (ER Solutions), which was founded as early as 1950 in Kirkland, Washington.

ER Solutions was originally known as Eastside Credit Bureau (ECB). ER Solutions, Inc. operated as an accounts receivable management agency, providing receivables collection services to retail and telecommunications creditors and utilities industries.

Convergent became one of 5th largest companies in the collection industry, employing over 2600 employees in thirteen branches in 10 states. They are also one of the biggest receivables management companies in the United States, providing third party collections and first party outsourcing to a variety of industries, including wireless, telecommunications, banking, utility, cable, and satellite markets.

Convergent Resources, Inc (ER Solutions), cannot be compared to some of the most notorious bad bill collectors. However, according to their January 24, 2012 BBB Business Reliability Report, the debt collection agency had 189 complaints closed with the BBB in last 3 years. 90 of the consumer complaints were closed in the last 12 months.
Most of the BBB complaints filed (142) on the debt collection agency were due to billing/collection issues, 45 due to problems with product/service, and only 2 due to advertising/sales issues. The BBB also alleges that Convergent Resources, Inc (ER Solutions), “has received a pattern of complaints from consumers alleging that E R Solutions Inc continues to contact them after they have been asked not to.”

You can locate various other complaints on Convergent Resources, Inc (ER Solutions) throughout a number of online complaint portals. On December 18, 2011, a complainant reported at Pissedconsumer.com, “having reported the debt collector (Convergent) to the FTC, and the Texas Attorney General’s Office due to attempting to illegally collect zombie debts (old debts past the Statute of Limitations).”

On Nov. 8, 2011, Christopher of Boone of North Carolina reported at Consumeraffairs.com on the debt collection aency (Convergent): “I received a statement from ER Solutions, Inc. concerning a Regions Bank debt on an account that I have never owned. I have tried calling ER Solutions but they have hung up on me thrice when I tried to communicate that the account is not mine. I did have a Regions credit card which has been paid in full. ER Solutions calls and harasses my parents even though they have my correct contact information. This is showing up on my credit and is not correct. What do I do?”

Although the degree of complaints found on Convergent Resources, Inc (ER Solutions) are unsavory, based on the company’s size, again their number of complaints pale in comparison to some of the worse bad bill collectors.

However, if this debt collection agency pursues you to collect a debt, observing their pattern of complaints, look out for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, including improper billing, continuing to call you after you requested that they not call you, use of harassment, or attempting to collect a debt that doesn’t belong to you.

If you suspect that Convergent Resources, Inc (ER Solutions) or any debt collection agency is acting like a bad bill collector and/or has committed an offense under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you may report them to the following state and/or federal agencies:

-Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov)
-Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (www.consumerfinance.gov)
-California Attorney General (ag.ca.gov)
-Alabama Attorney General (www.ago.state.al.us)
-Georgia Attorney General (law.ga.gov)
-New York Attorney General (www.ag.ny.gov)
-Virginia Attorney General (www.oag.state.va.us)
-Florida Attorney General (myfloridalegal.com)
-Illinois Attorney General (illinoisattorneygeneral.gov)
-Texas Attorney General (www.oag.state.tx.us)
-Washington Attorney General (www.atg.wa.gov)

As a frequent visitor to the Debt Free League Blog, you may have noticed that we also provide our readers with a wealth of resources to combat the abusive debt collection practices of bad bill collectors. You can also call a Debt Free League counselor at 1-800-213-9968 to get additional free tips and information.

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If corporations are people, where's debt relief for the people?

While at the Iowa State Fair, Romney quoted, “corporations are people.” He tried to make the argument that money goes to people through companies. But, it was no laughing matter. Not for working class Americans, the unemployed or people stuck with high federal income taxes. And, if corporations are in fact “people”, the equal rationale is that people are “corporations.” Obviously, no factory can manufacture a product without a factory worker and no farm can harvest a crop without a farm worker.

Thus, it’s unequivocal that people are the essential lifeblood of corporations. People are also the primary component of the corporate profit mechanism. Yet, there is a wide-scale income disparity between people – the 99% and corporations – the 1%.

Illustrating the economical disconnect, in 2011 there were 412 U.S. billionaires with a net worth clearly extrapolated from the coffers of corporations and the exploits of American workers. Incredibly, from the total number of billionaires, precisely six Walton family members (founders of Walmart) represent a net worth equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans.

In contrast, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010 the nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1% (46.2 million). Of the developed countries, only Israel, Mexico, and Chile have higher poverty rates.

Additionally, as U.S. taxpayers are revitalizing from a recession, they are are also paying a greater share of federal income taxes than many corporations.

Between 2008 and 2010, thirty U.S. corporations, including General Electric, Verizon, and Wells Fargo, paid less than nothing in aggregate federal income taxes. And, some wonder why the great divide between the 1% and the 99% continues to widen.

Romney also made the following unconscionable response to a question on what should be done about housing and foreclosures: “Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up. Let it turn around and come back up.”

However, Romney’s surrealistic response was apathetic to millions of homeowners that are in peril of losing their homes, not out of choice, but because of Wall Street (“corporations”). Corporate greed catapulted the mortgage lending crisis. which consequently caused millions of workers to be without jobs.

Insensitive to the ongoing housing crisis, Romney seems oblivious that America’s working class has never received any federal debt relief, loans, or bailout money. However, in December 2008 the Federal Reserve gave corporations a combined $1.2 trillion in bailout money, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.

Bloomberg Markets magazine now reports that the bailed out banks also took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans and used the Fed’s below-market rates to reap an estimated $13 billion of income.

Since the aspiring President claims corporations are people, why not ask corporations, “Where’s the people’s share of the profits?” Moreover, you might as well ask the Federal Reserve, “When is consumer debt relief finally coming?

(Youtube video)

Yet, despite amassing colossal profits, corporations aren’t paying it forward. Instead, in 2012 another onslaught of foreclosures by the largest mortgage corporations, including Bank of America, GMAC, and JPMorgan Chase is expected to displace more homeowners into the streets.

Sadly, this year the saga of the soon-to-be homeless taxpayer continues. Financial hardships will also cause millions to contemplate bankruptcy. But, it’s just another happy new year for numerous corporations, which get to enjoy paying little or no federal income taxes.

In 2011, a record number of consumers decided to sue debt collectors for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violations. Yet, FDCPA debt collection lawsuits pale in comparison to the record number of FDCPA complaints. The following explains the various grounds for filing debt collection lawsuits.

The weak economy, which has forced more consumer debt defaults, has sparked more aggressive debt collection activity. But, by December 15, 2011 consumers had filed 11,359 FDCPA lawsuits, surpassing 2010′s record of 10,914 lawsuits, according to WebRecon LLC. Despite this precedent, consumers have filed a disproportionately higher volume of FDCPA complaints.

Although the 2011 report isn’t out yet, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may announce another record year of complaints on debt collectors. In 2010, the FTC, which protects consumers against the abuses of third-party debt collectors, received a record 108,997 complaints, representing a 19% increase over 2009, which held the previous record of 88,326 complaints.

The above statistics are no phenomenon to the FTC, which receives more consumer complaints about the collection industry than any other industry. But, why were 88% more collection debt collector complaints filed than actual lawsuits in 2010?

According to WebRecon LLC, “A significant percentage of consumer litigation is initiated by the same consumers over and over again, and screening them out of the general population can reduce lawsuits by as much as a third.” Thus, the heightened rate of collection lawsuits is arguably attributed to more “informed” consumers. Apparently, more people that are being educated about their rights are filing collection lawsuits.

FDCPA Prohibitions that Trigger a Collection Lawsuit

The FDCPA, which prohibits false, deceptive or unfair debt collection tactics, allows you to sue a company that attempts to collect a debt on behalf of the original creditor. This law allows you to take legal action for a variety of reasons, including if the company:

- Threatens illegal actions or actions that they have no intention of taking;
- Misrepresents itself as a law firm or that its collectors are attorneys;
- Calls consumers before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., or at their workplace;
- Uses obscene or profane language, or harasses consumers with repeated phone calls;
- Misrepresents that a debtor will be arrested or have property seized if he/she doesn’t pay;
- Makes false statements to collect a debt or obtain information about a consumer;
- Communicates with a consumer after receiving written notice that the consumer refuses to pay or wants the collector to stop calling;
- Withdraws funds from consumers’ bank accounts or charge their credit cards without their consent;
- Deposits or threatens to deposit postdated checks before the date on the check;
- Asks a third party for a consumer’s location information more than once without the third party’s consent or a reasonable belief that the person’s earlier response was wrong or incomplete and that the person now has correct location information;
- Reveals to third parties that a consumer owes a debt.

Having a basic understanding of the law, you’ll know how to catch collectors violating your rights and what evidence to bring to court if you decide to file a lawsuit.

What Relief You Can Get If a Debt Collector Breaks The Law

If your rights were violated by a collector, the FDCPA entitles you to recover a maximum award for damages of $1000 per violation. Statutory damages are per action (lawsuit). Plus, they may have to pay your attorney’s fees and court costs as well as post-judgment interest. Legally, you have the right to sue a collector in state or federal court within one year from the date the law was violated.

With some assistance, it’s not that difficult to file your own small claims lawsuit. You can also seek a free case evaluation from a consumer debt collection rights attorney. Many work under a “no recovery/no fee” contingency. This helps you avoid out of pocket costs and the attorney only gets paid when you get paid.

You can obtain a list of the top attorneys that sue debt collectors by calling Debt Free League at 1-800-213-9968. As professional debt arbitrator, we can also help you fight collection agencies to reach massive debt settlements.

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