Records Show Debt Collector Planned to Exit State Before Lawsuit

CHARLESTON, WV – A debt collection agency blamed a consumer protection lawsuit when it announced it will close its Huntington office next year and lay off 600 workers. But it planned to leave West Virginia nearly five months before the lawsuit was filed, a lawyer for the company’s landlord said in a sworn statement.

Applied Card Systems President Rocco Abessinio told lawyer Charles Lucido in October 2003 that the company would be transferring operations to Florida, Delaware and New Jersey, according to Lucido’s statement and other records released Wednesday by Attorney General Darrell McGraw.

“The gist of his phone call was that Applied Card would not be interested in buying the building or extending their lease term beyond Aug. 5, 2005,” Lucido said in the statement, which was made Tuesday.

In March of this year, McGraw’s consumer protection division sued Applied Card on behalf of state residents alleging harassing and abusive phone calls from the company’s collectors. The lawsuit also targeted a sister company, Cross Country Bank, alleging it deceptively sold West Virginians credit cards with hidden fees.

“It was all a lie,” Assistant Attorney General Norman Googel said Wednesday. “If I were an employee of Applied Card Systems, I would be pretty angry. I think Mr. Abessinio has a lot of questions to answer.”

Applied Card Vice President Brian Hildebrandt said the company was discussing renewing the lease with “third parties.”

“The terms were unfair as presented,” Hildebrandt said Wednesday of the lease. “We were working behind the scenes to renegotiate the lease.”

For this complete story, please visit Records Show Debt Collector Planned to Exit State Before Lawsuit.