Collection agency offshoring

Collection agencies have become a racket.

They make harassing phone calls to people who don't owe money and were never even customers of their supposed creditors.

Often, you'll receive several harassing calls a day from the same collection agency - even after you've made it clear you don't owe anything and aren't paying. Even if you do owe money, it's illegal for the agency to keep calling you after you've told them you're not paying.

But the fact that they keep calling instead of suing is proof they have no case.

Now corporations have begun outsourcing their debt collections to foreign lands - even after Americans have lost jobs by the zillions. The irony is that if someone has an outstanding debt, there's a good chance it was because they lost their job to outsourcing.

Touchstone, a call center owned by an American firm, offshores its collection operations to Pakistan.

And when alleged debtors don't pay up, the overseas collectors start calling their neighbors, co-workers, and relatives to harass them too. What's next? Calling their former science teacher's auto mechanic's great-uncle's dog groomer?

Our state Attorney Generals need to start reining in this greed-driven harassment. Although their operations are offshored, these are American-based firms, and they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent - not just for phone harassment but also racketeering.