Consumer complaint received 2022-07-22
Company: Williams, Rush & Associates, LLC
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Private student loan debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Frequent or repeated calls

Complaint:
To Whom it may concern, In accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 U.S.C 1681 & Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 15 U.S.C 1692, Account # XXXX, named WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES, has violated my rights. 

Pursuant to 15 U.S.C 1692c ( a ) COMMUNICATION WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt ( XXXX ) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. 

Pursuant to 15 USC 1692d A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section : ( 5 ) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number. 
The HARRASING phone calls from WILLIAMS RUSH XXXX ASSOCIATES began around XX/XX/2021. Since then, they have called my phone several times a week, multiple times a day, during work hours from several different phone numbers leaving messages that I still have saved on my phone. I am an XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX  and on multiple occasions I have told them I was busy working, and I can not talk on the phone at that time, yet the associate would continue to engage in conversation with me forcing me to have to hang up the phone. I am usually over the road working for weeks at a time for 12-14 hours a day and my primary phone is also my work phone that my job uses to stay in contact with me. For that reason, I have requested that WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES do not call me because they always call while I am working. 




Pursuant to 15 USC 1692d A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section : ( 1 ) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person. 

In 2021, WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES threatened that they could get my XXXX revoked if I did not settle the alleged debt. They also threatened to contact my current employer regarding the alleged debt in an attempt to have me terminated. They harassed my wife with phone calls to the point that she suffered an XXXX XXXX  and needed XXXX  XXXX  because she feared adverse action from WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES due to them threatening my livelihood. 


Pursuant to 15 U.S.C 1692b Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall ( 2 ) not state that such consumer owes any debt ; WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES has continuously violated my right to privacy by calling multiple family members, including my mother and brother, stating that they are a debt collection agency thus notifying them of the alleged debt. 


The initial contact between myself and WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES was made by phone, not written correspondence despite me making two requests, by mail and by phone, for a written validation of debt. I request validation of the debt over the phone and was told that I could choose to receive validation by USPS mail or email but NOT BOTH. I responded by stating that I preferred the documents be sent via USPS mail, but the agent insisted that I receive the documents via email. The agent finally agreed to send it via USPS mail, but I never received anything. After speaking with them for the final time weeks later, the agent said that WILLIAMS RUSH & ASSOCIATES would be emailing me the documents despite me requesting mail delivery. I reminded her that she told me that I could ONLY have the documents sent to me by USPS mail OR email but not BOTH and I chose USPS mail. She responded, " That's okay '', confirmed my email address, and told me to expect an email of the loan agreement. I STILL have not received adequate debt validation documentation via USPS mail, as requested, for MY PERSONAL RECORD.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation