Collection Agency: United Recovery Systems

United Recovery Systems, Inc. (URS) is a Houston-based private collection agency. They, like many other such organizations have certain characteristics that make it very difficult for an average American to respect them. For, instance, when you do a Google (or any major search engine) search for "United Recovery Systems", here is what you will not find:

• A company website;
• A company-sponsored landing page;
• Company contact information (provided by URS);
• anything at all that will be helpful to learn about or get in contact with URS.

This is the Information Age and people like to know who they are dealing with, especially if that organization happens to have attached a negative mark to your credit report. Here is what you will find when you do that search engine search:

• Loads of negative consumer reviews;
• Company contact information provided by angered consumers;
• Thousands of forum posts by outraged consumers who feel that they have, in one or more of various ways, been disrespected and/or abused by United Recovery Systems;
• Hundreds of references to lawsuits files against URS, specifically those filed by the FTC.

Case in point, in 2002, URS was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for grossly disregarding the collection agency regulations set forth by the 1978 FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). It was a landmark case in that it was the first in which the FTC enforced action against a debt collection agency for violating the rights of Spanish-speaking persons. Here are the listed grounds for the lawsuit:

• Improper times of attempted communications with debtors (after 9 PM or before 8 AM);
• Engaging in prohibited communications with third parties;
• Harassed consumers;
• Abused consumers;
• Use of deceptive tactics to ascertain debtor information;

The result was that United Recovery Systems was made to pay $240,000 in civil damages to the FTC (not the consumers that URS harassed and abused). Additionally, it was mandated that URS would, in the future, advice, in written form, each debtor contacted that they had a legal right to request them to cease and desist communication attempts with them. They were further ordered to provide a valid URS phone number and other relevant contact information.

After all of that, United Recovery Systems easily handled the smack on their wrist and are back at it today in grand style. They still have regular complaints lodged against them by outraged consumers. There is no company-provided contact information to be found. And it seems very probable that they conveniently fail to inform their targeted debtors about their rights according to the FDCPA and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Find out how to remove United Recovery Systems from your credit reports at the credit repair authority site.