Hello, my name is Casey and Absolute Collection Services inc completely ruined my credit! They trashed my credit report and my life turned upside down almost overnight.

Recently, I ran into some financial problems that resulted in my being targeted by many different collection agencies. Absolute Collection Service Inc, out of Raleigh, North Carolina was just one of them. Like all debt collection agencies, Absolute Collection Service Inc makes a profit off of bad debts by buying them cheap from the original lender and then making the debtor repay in full, plus fees and interest.

Because I had so many debts, I was clearly in no position to pay the debt collectors from Absolute Collection Service Inc. No matter how many times they called–and they called every day for weeks–I simply wasn’t going to be able to pay. I don’t know why they thought harassing me over the phone was going to change that!

Debt collection agents work on commission. This makes them highly incentivized to get debtors to pay and extremely persistent in their efforts. They have a number of tricks up their sleeves, which they will use to coerce you into repaying your debt.

The first tactic is to call you with obnoxious frequency. When dealing with debt collectors, you can neutralize this tactic by simply refusing to engage. Don’t make the same mistake I did, which was to try to talk to Absolute Collection Service Inc and other agencies, hoping to convince them to make an exception for my circumstances and stop harassing me. Debt collectors are not your friends, and never will be! They are professionals in single-minded pursuit of a single goal: repayment. You may be able to secure an extension on your debt, but you will never convince them to show an ounce of human sympathy for you or make any exceptions for you.

Because many debt collection agencies use autodialers or route their outgoing calls through a variety of phone numbers, it can be hard to effectively screen your phone calls against them. Despite my best efforts, I did end up on the line with someone from Absolute Collection Service Inc from time to time. This allowed them to attempt to use their next two tactics: payment plans and threats.

Here is my actual credit report from TransUnion after the debts killed my credit.

Often, a debt collector will propose a payment plan that has shockingly low monthly payments. They may claim to have your “best interests” at heart, or they may simply tell you this is your only option. However, beware of anything your debt collector says. If you look closely, you will probably discover that the payment plan has exorbitant interests fees and/or drags on for years–perhaps even longer than the corresponding collection item would remain on your record!

Occasionally a debt collector will stoop to threats in order to secure repayment on your debts. Fortunately, I did not experience this personally. I have heard many stories from others, however. Bear in mind that under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors are not allowed to make threats of harm. Nor are they permitted to make threats of legal action, unless they a) could get legal permission to do so in your case and b) actually intend to seek said legal permission. Most of the time, it’s simply too much trouble to take you to court and get legal permission to garnish your wages, place a lien on your home, or seize your assets. It’s much easier to just make the threat and let your own fear drive you into repaying.

The final and most effective tactic a debt collector can take to secure repayment of a bad debt is to report it to the credit bureaus. It is perfectly reasonable for them to do this–after all, this is why the credit bureaus exist in the first place: to track your credit activities and help future lenders evaluate the risk of giving you new credit.

Unfortunately, some debt collection agencies tend to take advantage of this power they have over consumers by reporting invalid or inaccurate items to the credit bureaus as charge offs or collection items. Both terms simply mean that a debt collector has failed to secure repayment from you on a given debt.

Collection items and charge offs can be extremely damaging to your credit score. Just one item can lower your score 100 points. The more of these black marks you get, the worse your credit score becomes and the less likely you are to get approved for new credit, such as an auto loan or home loan.

In my case, a combination of collection items, charge offs, and a credit judgment (a legal ruling that I owed money to the debt collector) resulted in my credit score dropping to 588 points. When I saw that terrible score, it finally spurred me into action.

However, the action that I took was not the one that the debt collectors intended! Rather than paying them, I decided to get professional help disputing my debt and repairing my credit.

I received this deletion letter in the mail saying that Absolute Collection Services was no longer on my credit report, I almost jumped through my ceiling!

Fortunately, I knew that paying the debt collectors does not necessarily guarantee repaired credit, so I wasn’t even tempted to pay them. Even if you pay off your debt, the debt collection must still take the initiative to contact the credit bureaus and remove the collection item. So if you do pay, be sure to make them commit to doing this for you IN WRITING before you pay a cent.

As I searched for the right credit repair service to help me with my situation, I discovered Lexington Law. Lexington Law is a credit repair law firm with a long track record of successfully disputing items with the credit bureaus and improving their clients’ credit scores. Since their founding in 1991, they’ve helped half a million clients!

I called Lexington Law for a free consultation and learned about the tactics that they use to get black marks removed from people’s credit histories:

-Debt Validation. Consumers have the right to question the validity of their debts within 30 days of being contacted by the debt collector. The debt validation process places the burden of proof on the debt collection agency, so that they have to prove that you owe them, rather than you proving that you don’t owe. In my case, this was off the table because too much time had already passed.

-Statute of Limitations. Sometimes debt collectors will attempt to collect on debts that are very old and actually expired. Lexington Law investigates the statute of limitations in your state and makes sure that your debt is not outside the statute of limitations. If it is, the debt is invalidated.

-Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under this act, debt collectors bear the responsibility to report only accurate information about consumers to the credit bureaus. If you can prove that the collection item or charge off is based on inaccurate information, you can get it removed.

-Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This act protects consumers from unfair debt collection tactics, such as illegal threats and harassing phone calls. Proving that the debt collector acted improperly can help you make a case against them.

After hearing the steps that Lexington Law could take for me and seeing the expertise that they brought to the table, I was very excited to hire them. As soon as I hung up the phone, I felt a tremendous sense of relief. Plus, since I had engaged Lexington Law as my attorney, debt collectors were no longer allowed to contact me directly! This is another benefit of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

For the first time in quite a while, I could concentrate on getting my financial house in order, without interruptions and stress from debt collectors.

Each day, I eagerly checked the mail for the notices that Lexington Law had promised would be coming. After just 30 days, I received my first notice from the credit bureaus. This notice showed that my first collection item had been removed! I can’t even tell you what a good feeling that was. More time passed and Lexington Law got more and more of those nasty black marks removed, including the collection item from Absolute Collection Service Inc. The best part was, each time an item was removed, my score rose about 20 points.

After my credit was repaired, I started making a real effort to keep my score high. I followed these tips for maintaining good credit:

-Pay your bills on time
-Use only 35 percent of your available credit
-Don’t apply for excess credit cards or loans
-Keep old accounts open to create a long credit history

My credit score grew immediately after Absolute Collection Services inc was deleted. All thanks to Lexington Law!

Today, my credit score is a respectable 729 points! I can’t believe the difference, in both my credit situation and my overall morale. I know I owe this dramatic change for the better to the brilliant services of Lexington Law.

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