Doing it Wrong: Debt Collector Becomes Sex Collector, Says ABC 24

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Mike Bevel November 11, 2011 23 Responses http://www.insidearm.com/daily/debt-collection-news/accounts-receivables-management/doing-it-wrong-debt-collector-becomes-sex-collector-says-abc-24/

Yep. They went there. Mostly because the guy in the matter, Nathan Higgenbottom, went there first. Please please PLEASE watch the above clip. Now. I’ll wait.

First, isn’t ABC 24′s Joyce Peterson’s hair great? A lot of time TV news anchors have weird plastic-y hair that looks shellacked, but Joyce’s hair looks totally touchable, right? Not in a creepy, sneak-up-behind-Joyce-while-she’s-in-the-break-room-pouring-coffee-and-then-quietly-stroking-her-hair kind of way. I mean in an oh never mind, let’s move on to…

Second: Joyce is really good at selling the lede of the story: “A debt collector turned sex collector is asking women to give it up to pay it off.” Of course careers aren’t made or waylaid by stories like this, but what I’m impressed by is how Joyce doesn’t wink or subtley acknowledge the no-thank-you!-ness of the story. She’s got a job to do. She’s going to do it. And then she’s later going to tell you about five items in your house right now that are probably giving you cancer.

Third, though: I’m not wild about that top Jeni DiPrizio is wearing under that neutral jacket. I think someone told her that jewel tones like that would pop on screen better, but I think Jeni needs to take a page from Joyce’s catalog. And maybe not slouch so much. She’d be so much prettier if she just stood up tall and squared her shoulders.

The gist of the story being reported is that a man, the aforementioned Nathan Higgenbottom (who is not, as far as I know, a character from the board game Clue or from a Dickens novel), called a Memphis, Tenn., woman named Mia Dodson on behalf of DCA Law Firm, a collection agency. (Phone calls to DCA Law Firm went unreturned for this story. But more on that in a moment.)

Dodson allegedly owes money. DCA Law Firm is allegedly the collection agency hired to collect from Dodson. Higgenbottom’s tactic in getting the money, though, is sort of not alleged, since Dodson recorded the call and you can hear Higgenbottom saying the following:

“If you cannot pay back with money, you can pay back with your own body. That is what I am expecting from you. My room is open 24/7 anytime. I’ll be waiting for your call. Let’s have a wonderful night.”

If you watch the video (and if you haven’t, why haven’t you? Why are you denying yourself joy and laughter?), you’ll learn that Higgenbottom leaves his company number and what is alleged to be his personal cell phone number. While you don’t hear Higgenbottom saying this, you do see a re-enactment of Dodson calling both numbers, with both numbers visible on her cell phone. As reported a couple paragraphs earlier, insideARM.com tried both numbers with no luck. Web-searches on DCA Law Firm aren’t fruitful and you’d be surprised how many Nathan Higgenbottoms there are in the world.

DCA Law Firm has been busy enough lately with its questionable and mostly illegal tactics to warrant a consumer alert from the state of Washington about the company. “No one knows if this is a real debt collection firm, or a fly-by-night scam,” Jeni says.

Dodson’s lawyer, Kevin Snider, added, “Obviously they are still in business. People fall for this stuff all the time.” It’s unclear, though, if Snider means exchanging a little afternoon (or whatever time of day) delight for a paid-in-full, or if he’s just talking about unscrupulous practices in general.