Consumer complaint received 2018-10-18
Company: Populus Financial Group, Inc. (F/K/A Ace Cash Express)
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to arrest you or take you to jail if you do not pay

Complaint:
Today, I have a recording from a vendor of yours that was beyond horrific. I have the recording on my phone and can forward the copy over. I am going to the news and am going to play this audio that will impact Ace and its customers drastically. Let me rewind this for a second, Yesterday my sister and mother called me telling me that someone was calling them blocked and promised them that I was going to get arrested today. They were harassed by an XXXX number and were called over 5 times a piece within a one-hour window ... They told my family they worked with the authorities. ( Which is a crime to impersonate an officer ). In addition, they got called by multiple different numbers and blocked numbers from the same person. I was at work and my XXXX XXXX XXXX to cause me to almost have a XXXX XXXX. This morning, I called the number back and have the full recording on my phone that is a little over 15 minutes long. The female who answers the phone told me that processors were trying to find me and that they had no control over how many times they call people. They admitted to breaking a couple rules here and there but stated it had to be done to collect on past due customers. I requested to speak with a manager and or legal team to report the harassing phone calls to my family and myself. ( Mind you- every phone call can result in thousands in fines per the FDCPA Act ) I was transferred to the owner who told me he was an attorney and he began to call me names and called me a loser! I told him that he was breaking laws and he said this was past the collection stage so that he could talk to me in whatever manner he wanted to. The way Ace allows vendors or third-party agencies to treat their customers is beyond unacceptable. I am going to contact the CFPB, the XXXX, The federal trade commission and post blogs on social media to create a class action lawsuit. There is no way a vendor or third party agency should be above the law and not held to the same standards as other companies. Who is ACE contracting to collect on their loans? Why does Ace treat their customers so poorly and believe that this is acceptable? Please have a member of Legal reach out to me by end of day tomorrow or I will contact my attorney and put together a class action lawsuit. I live in XXXX so I have no issue walking the call down to any location so that this person and company can be taken down. I have a serious medical condition and I might have to be admitted into the local hospital along with my family members. This company XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX is used and backed by ACE to treat its customers like trash while breaking laws. Ace needs to be held accountable for all of this. Contact me by end of day tomorrow or I will reach out to the media and play the call on live TV. I typed the number they called in from in XXXX and other customers are getting the same response. Let me know what email is needed to forward the call over. I have screenshots and can prove this company was hired by Ace.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation