Aurora, Gold & Associates Collection Agency Fined By NY AG

Aurora, Gold & Associates, a Western New York collection agency that engages in deceptive and abusive acts will pay $35,000 in penalties and costs perunder an agreement with the state Attorney General’s office.

Aurora, Gold & Associates engaged in illegal practices including collectors pretending to be attorneys, threatening consumers with non existant lawsuits and discussing private customer information with unrelated parties. "It is not acceptable for debt collection companies to harass consumers to the point where they overstep legal boundaries,” said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a public statement.

Violations by Aurora Gold included repeatedly calling consumers' family, friends and neighbors despite requests to stop calling. The Attorney General also found that Aurora Gold’s Web site contained statements that created the false impression that it was a law firm and could sue debtors.

In one instance, a collector – pretending to be an attorney – left a message on a consumer’s answering machine in which he toldher there was a “pending civil suit” against her.

In addition to paying $35,000 in penalties and costs, the agreement requires Aurora Gold to immediately institute a number of reforms to correct its current practices and to ensure that it will deal with debtors and third parties fairly and according to the law.

Although complaints to a state attorney general or the FTC are generally useless compared to a FDCPA lawsuit, the case of Aurora, Gold & Associates shows they can be sometimes worthwhile.