Anne Sessions, 85-Year-Old Oregonian, Suing Big Bank Over Fake Suicide Call

These days, debt collectors are putting some people through so much pain that it's landing them in the hospital.

Anne Sessions of Lane County, Oregon is suing Wells Fargo after one of its debt collectors reported to police that that the 85-year-old was threatening suicide, a claim she maintains was false, The Oregonian reports. After hitting financial trouble, Sessions says she arranged a payment plan for her credit card debt with Wells Fargo last year, but just days later she allegedly received a call from a debt collector who badgered her with a "contemptous tone," according to the lawsuit.

Sessions told the collector that such abuse may cause other customers to take their own lives, which allegedly prompted a line of questioning that included the collector asking Sessions: "But...if you did [commit suicide], how would you do it - hurt yourself?" Courthouse News reports.

Within a half hour police arrived at Sessions' door and forcibly took her to the hospital. She was released hours later after hospital staff said they "strongly" believed Sessions was not a threat to herself or others, ABC News reports. But the incident left Sessions stuck with a hospital bill worth $1,055, for which she is seeking compensation, as well as $250,000 in punitive damages.

Sessions' suit may involve one of the more puzzling instances of debt collector abuse recently, but harassment of its kind is far from uncommon. Complaints filed to the Federal Trade Commission about debt collectors rose to 140,036 in 2010, up from 119,609 in 2009. The boost may be explained in part by the industry's growth in a troubled economy that's caused many Americans to delay debt payments.

Over the next three years, the debt collection industry is expected to expand by 26 percent.

Indeed, all the negative reports -- collection agencies are responsible for the most complaints to the FTC of any industry -- may be beginning to take a toll. The FTC has begun cracking down on illegal debt collecting tactics, including repeated calls to the debtors, failure to notify consumers in writing of their rights, misrepresenting the debt in question as well as using profanity or threats.

Last month it settled with Michigan-based debt collection company Asset Acceptance for $2.5 million on charges of misconduct. It also took action against two California-based collection agencies last year, one for attempting to collect debts that didn't exist and the other for threatening to kill debtors pets and desecrate the bodies of deceased family members.

Comments

[Jstplnefedup]

04:49 PM on 11/01/2012

Jut show up at the debt collectors place of work and harass them..a la seinfeld.

I did that way back when with a debt collector. showed up at his work and followed him to his car. he did not like ti very much.

[Kimiko Austin-Rijs]

06:16 AM on 10/20/2012

I worked as a debt collector and I was very cautious about how to tried to collect money as I knew full well that I had debts myself. Most of these debt collectors are do all of this crap so that they can earn a bonus and in some cases keep their job. I told the owners off on a number of occassions because they were trying to force me to do something that was not only unethical to me but illegal and I told them that I was not willing to be sued for anyones greed. I eventually quit because the pressure was just to great. I was a good collector because I told people what their rights were. I made arrangments for people to pay what they could afford to pay each month and NO more than that. If they told me that they worked at Taco bell, then the pay arrangments were fixed to what was reasonable for them. If their bill was close to the 7 year mark I would warn them to not start paying now to ignore for another year and they would not have to pay at all due to the statutes of limitations.

[mutopis]

04:36 AM on 04/24/2012

It also took action against two California-based collection agencies last year, one for attempting to collect debts that didn't exist and the other for threatening to kill debtors pets and desecrate the bodies of deceased family members.

debt collectors are just vultures...

[traceymarie]

05:42 PM on 02/13/2012

I received a threating call from a debt collector....for a .36 bill from the hospital.....no kidding 36 cents

[Apathetic Apostle]

05:45 PM on 02/13/2012

It cost more to call you for that.

[traceymarie]

05:48 PM on 02/13/2012

ridiculous isn't it.

[Neets101]

05:33 PM on 02/13/2012

I worked with a lady whose two year old daughter needed emergency heart surgery, despite having health insurance they ended up on the hook for 40,000 in 1982, when the hospital at the time was legally charging compound interest, my friend ended up bankrupt, and after her bankruptcy the debt collectors were waiting in the parking lot every night after work for her to leave the building so they could harass her before she could get to her car.

Every night it would be a different collector so if she called the sheriff, (which she did) they could claim ignorance of the law.

[debnran]

11:04 PM on 04/23/2012

I think I'd have left work with a rottwiler or doberman in tow.

[argved]

03:18 PM on 02/13/2012

Is debt collection part of the Tpub intern program?

[kp1975]

01:40 PM on 02/13/2012

Debt collectors are dirty in the way they deal with debtors. Most people have debt nowadays and most of those are willing to pay their obligation. However, when things happen where a delicate financial balance is disrupted, debt collectors think they have you over a barrel and they will treat you any way they feel like. Years ago I had a debt collector tell me he was going to ruin my credit (keep in mind at this point, it was already shot due to a divorce that raked me over the financial coals big time). I told him to get in line behind my ex-husband and everyone else. He had no witty comeback for that and from then on out his tone was much nicer. I treat them with the same amount of respect they treat me. If that happens to be none, I am only basing my actions off theirs so you would think they would attempt to be civil when dealing with people. Not everyone is a deadbeat... some of us at one time or another actually have a temporary phase of bad financial luck.

[Mithrall]

01:12 PM on 02/13/2012

Debt collection, a place where sociopaths can feel needed and appreciated.

[pecosdog]

12:21 PM on 02/13/2012

If I am ever at a party or a function where somebody says they work for one of these "debt collectors", I swear I will hurt them. And I have no debt, it's just that I am tired of these human bodies without a soul running around harassing those who do have a soul.

[BeanBoo]

03:21 PM on 02/13/2012

And hurting someone for doing their job is not harassing, right??

[pecosdog]

03:49 PM on 02/13/2012

It's not like they are real people with real souls. They have proven that they are just pieces of meat that can talk.

[Dolly Knight Hughes]

08:41 AM on 04/24/2012

For those that do their job correctly, it isn't harassing. For those that harass and violate and threaten while doing their job, well...they deserve what they get and more.

[TeeLolly]

09:11 AM on 02/13/2012

I represented an elderly woman who had had four major heart attacks, flatlining twice, and we set up a deal under which the bank took a lien against her house to be collected whenever she could no longer live in the house (for any reason). In exchange, she was not to be contacted, and no payments would be expected. That lasted for two months, at which point she began receiving threatening collection calls several times a week. Whenever I called, the bank guy pretended to be new and unaware of the deal even though it was incorporated in a court judgment--and even though he was the same guy every time ...

[Durrrrrr]

07:50 AM on 02/13/2012

$1,000 hospital bill turns into $250,000 in punitive damages. She must have met a lawyer waiting in the hospital lobby.

[TeeLolly]

09:14 AM on 02/13/2012

Without a huge punitive payout, the bank would have no reason to stop pulling the same stunt with other customers. Besides, that $1,000 hospital bill to her was probably a lot more than $250K was to the bank, as a percentage of either income or assets.

[ArmyMedic]

12:37 PM on 02/13/2012

While I'm not big on lawsuits, I'm pretty close to agreeing with you on this one. AND, it's not just the $1,055 hospital bill that this shady collecting tactic cost. You have to consider:
Police man power and time - AT LEAST two officers for a suicidal subject.
Transport costs
Hospital Costs - I know her bill was $1,055 but it cost much more than that to admit her, evaluate her, feed her, clean her room after she left, etc.
Plus, you could "what if?" this to death... what if she had something in her hands when they arrived and felt like they needed to tazer her or pepper spray her or, God forbid, shoot her. This stinks no matter which way you slice it and it all comes back to one point.. the collector.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

01:59 PM on 02/13/2012

Frankly she need more than $250k to teach these guys a lesson. That's coffee money to them.

[kp1975]

01:45 PM on 02/13/2012

Why should she not get compensation for being forcibly dragged from her home based on allegations of a debt collector? In my opinion, this is just another way for the debt collector to humiliate her and force her into a "debtor's prison" situation where she gets stuck with another bill, thus ensuring job security for the debt collector because in his mind she is a deadbeat who is leeching off the system. Now, if she had told him she was on the Bay Bridge getting ready to jump, I could see the debt collector's point of view, but she did not. In fact, the way the article read, it sounds as if he brought up the idea in the first place which makes it appear as if this were merely an attempt to penalize the woman further.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

02:00 PM on 02/13/2012

That debt collector probably laughed their head off thinking about it

[Durrrrrr]

05:57 PM on 02/13/2012

"In fact, the way the article read, it sounds as if he brought up the idea in the first place which makes it appear as if this were merely an attempt to penalize the woman further."

The writer of this article set out with the purpose to spin the story. Let the unbiased judicial system set the record straight on what really happened.

[kemcha]

07:40 AM on 02/13/2012

If you have old debt that was in bankruptcy or that has expired after seven years, do not make any payments on that debt. Long as you have not made a payment on that expired debt after seven years, the minute you make one payment, it reopens that old debt so that you can get harassed for another seven years.

Debt collectors try to get you to pay on that old debt so that it can be legally reopened. Check your credit report. You can get a free sopy of your credit report by way of freecreditreport.com.

[frank day]

06:06 PM on 02/12/2012

What do you call one thousand debt collectors unemployed?

A good start.

[nathouspre]

04:38 PM on 02/12/2012

The debt collectors you descrble in ths article are just the tip of the problems. These debt collectors try to collect old debts dismissed in Bankrupacy or have expeired under state statue of limitstions. They have morals of an alley cat and that is milining the cat.

[Taterhead McGobstopper]

03:22 PM on 02/12/2012

If you get in financial trouble, pay your mortgage and utilities and for everything else either file bankruptcy, and/or tell debt collectors to f*** off over credit card and other things.

[kp1975]

01:48 PM on 02/13/2012

sadly, most of the debt we have in this country is related to medical bills. Credit cards and such are a part of it too but medical bills add up quick and their debt collectors are ruthless on collection.

[Taterhead McGobstopper]

02:29 PM on 02/13/2012

They can't come and beat you or anything. Tell them to f%$# off.