Have you called you a collection office to kindly invite you to pay any debt? Or are they charging you rudely?
Collection offices are subcontracted companies by financial or commercial institutions, and are responsible, extrajudicially, the payment of debts, as well as negotiating and restructuring credits.
If you ever stopped paying a debt then you may know them or know how they look for people to ask them to pay their debts or offer them alternatives.
During 2024, 41,922 defense actions initiated in the National Commission for the Defense and Protection of Financial Services Users (Condusef) were registered against collection offices.
That amount is 13.7% higher than the number of defender actions that Condusef registered in 2023, according to data from the statistical processor of this commission.
The main disagreement for which Condusef initiated defense actions was because people complained that these companies threatened, offended or intimidated, not only to them, but to relatives and co -workers.
The second reason for complaint with Condusef was due to the collection, negotiation or restructuring efforts made to people who are not debtor.
Some users also complained because the collection offices sent or presented documents that appear to be judicial writings, also because they were held as representatives of some jurisdictional body or authority.
If they call you at seven in the morning, 10 at night, or later, you also have the right to complain about this action. According to the regulations that regulate collection offices, they can only communicate with the people involved with debt between 8:00 in the morning and 9:00 p.m.
How to complain about a collection office?
If any of the aforementioned situations have happened to you, you can undertake a complaint against the offices. You can also check what type of company it is, if you are legally constituted and if the phones from which they call you are registered as part of that company.
To supervise the good practices of these collection entities, the record of collection offices (Redeco) was created, which is an electronic system that contains information on the offices that act as intermediaries between a financial institution and the debtor.
“The Redeco allows the public to know the information related to the collection offices, through which financial companies are supported to carry out the management of their loans, loans or financing, among which its denomination or corporate name, address, domicile, Telephones and email used to perform your efforts, ”says its microsite that is housed on the Condusef website.
This space not only gives you information about the offices, there can also be a complaint against financial entities when it is detected what offices with those who have agreement apply bad practices.
According to the Redeco, among the actions that the collection offices have allowed to do are document with the debtor the payment, negotiation or restructuring agreement of the credits, loans or financing; indicating the requirements, terms and conditions that allow identifying the offer or discount.
On the other hand, some bad practices in which these offices should not incur and for which you can complain are: carry out collection, negotiation or restructuring efforts with minors or older adults, unless, in the last one it is the Debt person.
