Debt collector to pay $2.5 million penalty

@CNNMoney January 31, 2012: 9:35 AM ET
The FTC fined debt collector Asset Acceptance for $2.5 million.

The Federal Trade Commission fined debt collector Asset Acceptance for $2.5 million.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Trade Commission has slapped a prominent debt collector with a $2.5 million penalty for misrepresenting its debt collection powers.

The FTC accused Asset Acceptance, a subsidiary of Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. (AACC), of making "a range of misrepresentations when trying to collect old debts."

For now on, as a result of the settlement, the company's debt collectors must inform debtors "whose debt may be too old to be legally enforceable" that the company cannot sue to collect the money, the FTC said in a statement Monday.

The FTC also said the settlement requires Asset Acceptance to investigate disputes when debtors dispute the accuracy of a debt. The company also isn't allowed to include the debt on credit reports without alerting the affected debtors.

Debt collectors to the rescue

Asset Acceptance, based in Warren, Mich., announced in a news release that the settlement ends an FTC investigation stemming back to 2006 "without admission by Asset Acceptance of the FTC's claims." To top of page

  • -->

    Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.