Debt Collection Companies Banned For Using Illegal And Deceptive Practices

Two debt collectors and their respective companies agreed to settle New York State Attorney General ("AG") charges of illegal and deceptive practices.

With assistance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the AG alleged that Mark Gray and Douglas MacKinnon and their respective companies Northern Resolution Group, LLC, Enhanced Acquisitions, LLC, and Delray Capital, LLC ("defendants") pressured consumers to pay more than they owed and used threats as a method for collections. Defendants allegedly used a practice known as "over balance in full" ("overbiffing") to deceive consumers into paying thousands of dollars on borrowed amounts of "only a few hundred dollars." Further, the AG stated, the defendants used a variety of illegal practices, including threatening consumers with arrest, garnishment of wages, revocation of licenses and possession of personal property.