Neon Claims Advantage Collection Agency Banned By New York AG

Neon Claims Advantage, a Nebraska debt collection agency, has agreed to be banned from doing business in the state of New York as part of a settlement agreement with the New York attorney general's office.

Before Neon's client, Quality First Auto Glass went out of business, it would estimate the cost of a repair, submit the estimate to the customer’s insurance company and then accept the amount the insurance company was willing to pay as payment in full for its auto glass repair work.

But once Quality First Auto Glass closed, it hired Neon to collect from the customers the difference between the company’s original cost estimate and the insurance company’s payment.

It didn't matter to the collection agency there was no legal obligation for anybody to pay the additional money since the insurance payments had been accepted as payment in full.

In all, Neon Claims Advantage had 424 accounts alleging over $233,000 in debts that did not exist.

The NY attorney general’s office, which began investigating after receiving complaints from customers, said Neon Advantage made misleading claims (alleging an actual debt) and did not validate the amount of the alleged debt in the letters it sent to the Quality First customers as required by the FDCPA.

The attorney general’s office intervened in the case before any of the 424 Quality First customers who were targeted by the debt collection agency paid any money on the collections attempts.

In a related settlement, the Attorney General’s Office permanently barred Alan Moore, dba Quality First Auto Glass, from attempting to collect the $233,000 again with a different collection agency or by any other means.