WASHINGTON | 
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Expert Global Solutions, the world's largest debt collection agency, has agreed to pay a $3.2 million civil penalty and stop harassing and abusing debtors by engaging in practices such as calling them multiple times a day, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. 
 
 The financial penalty levied on the company is the biggest ever obtained by the FTC against a third-party debt collector, the commission said. 
 
 On its website, Expert Global Solutions says it is a holding company for a leading accounts receivable management company. Three subsidiaries were also involved in the settlement: NCO Financial Systems, Inc., ALW Sourcing, LLC, and Transworld Systems Inc. 
 
 Company employees would continue to call people even after being told that they had reached the wrong person, that the consumer being contacted did not owe the debt or that the debtor did not live in that home, according to a complaint filed on Monday in federal court in Texas. 
 
 "They called after being asked to stop; after they promised to stop; early in the morning; late at night; at people's workplaces - when they knew the employers prohibited the calls," Colleen Tressler, a consumer education specialist with the FTC, wrote in a blog post. 
 
 Expert Global Solutions did not respond to a request for comment made through its website. 
 
 A spokesman for one of the subsidiaries, NCO Financial Systems, said it had made changes to address problems identified by the FTC. 
 
 "We ... have worked hard over the past several years to help ensure compliance and fair treatment of consumers on all of our points of contact," Tom Hoy, an NCO senior vice president, said in an emailed statement. 
 
 In addition to paying $3.2 million, Expert Global must end abusive practices and suspend or end collection efforts if a debtor disputes what is owed. It can resume collection efforts after establishing that the debt is accurate, the FTC said. 
 
 The company must also record at least 75 percent of all collection calls and keep them for 90 days, the agency said. 
 
 According to the FTC, the Texas-based company and its subsidiaries have more than 32,000 employees and logged revenues of more than $1.2 billion in 2011. 
 
 The companies operate in Canada, Barbados, India, the Philippines and Panama as well as the United States. 
 
 (Clarifies reference to FTC in second paragraph) 
 
 (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Ros Krasny and Xavier Briand) ||||| (Image credit: Getty Images) 
 
 The world's largest debt collection operation will pay a $3.2 million civil penalty, the largest ever obtained by the Federal Trade Commission against a third-party debt collector, for illegally harassing debtors. 
 
 Under the settlement, the FTC said Expert Global Solutions and its subsidiaries agreed to stop harassing consumers with illegal debt collection calls, including calling consumers multiple times a day and at workplaces, even after being told that employers prohibited these calls. 
 
 In its complaint, the FTC charged that the companies violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the FTC Act by using other tactics such as calling early in the morning or late at night, and leaving phone messages that disclosed the debtor's name and the existence of the debt to third parties. 
 
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 Expert Global Solutions and its subsidiaries, based in Texas, has more than 32,000 employees and revenue in 2011 of more than $1.2 billion. The subsidiaries include ALW Sourcing, LLC; NCO Financial Systems, Inc.; and Transworld Systems, Inc., which also does business as North Shore Agency, Inc. They are collectively the largest debt collector in the world. The companies also operate in Canada, Barbados, India, the Philippines and Panama. 
 
 A spokesman for EGS provided a statement to ABC News, saying, "We are pleased to have resolved this matter with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and to have this legacy issue, dating back to 2008, behind us. We cooperated fully with the FTC's 2010 investigation and have already implemented systems and procedures to help address their areas of concern." 
 
 They added, "We believe that the quality of our consumer interaction is best-in-class in our industry today, and have worked hard over the past several years to help ensure compliance and fair treatment of consumers on all of our points of contact." 
 
 In this proposed order with the FTC, "whenever a consumer disputes the validity or the amount of the debt, the defendants must either close the account and end collection efforts, or suspend collection until they have conducted a reasonable investigation and verified that their information about the debt is accurate and complete," the commission said. 
 
 The defendants also are required to record at least 75 percent of their debt collection calls beginning one year after the date of the order, and retain the recordings for 90 days after they are made. 
 
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– It's a little solace perhaps for people besieged by phone calls morning, noon, and night by debt-collection firm Expert Global Solutions: The company agreed to pay the FTC a $3.2 million fine and ease up on the harassment of debtors, reports Reuters. It's the biggest such fine ever levied on a third-party debt collector. "They called after being asked to stop; after they promised to stop; early in the morning; late at night; at people's workplaces—when they knew the employers prohibited the calls," writes an FTC official. Those types of tactics aren't just annoying, they're illegal under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the FTC Act, reports ABC News. Among the changes: The company and its subsidiaries will stop calling people if the debt is being disputed, at least until an investigation takes place. The company also has to record 75% of its calls and keep the recordings for at least three months. (Being a debt collector can be a lucrative job.)