FTC Collects more than 66,000 Complaints about Collectors

Consumers Filed 66,627 complaints about third-party debt collectors with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year, up sharply from the 58,698 complaints filed in 2004, the commission reported late Friday.

Those complaints represent 19.1 percent of all consumer complaints filed with the FTC last year, making the collection business the single most complained-about industry in the country, the FTC reports.

In addition, 23,605 complaints were filed about in-house collectors last year. “Some in-house collectors use no-holds-barred collection tactics in their dealings with consumers,” states the FTC in its2006 annual report to Congress on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.