GC Services pays $700,000 for unlawful calls

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that GC Services Limited Partnership, a large debt collector that has been charged with using unlawful tactics to collect on federal student loans and other debts, will pay a $700,000 civil penalty under a settlement with the Commission. The compliant filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the Commission alleged that the company’s collectors left phone messages that illegally disclosed purported debts to others without their permission. GC Services employees also called consumers multiple times after being told that the person who answered did not owe the debt, that they had called the wrong person, or that the person they wanted could not be reached there. According to the Commission, GC Services also falsely claimed that it would take steps to prevent its employees from making unlawful calls to third parties to find a debtor.