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Debt Collector Urges Reforms
(IRN) -- An Oklahoma businessman is making a push to reform debt collection practices across the country. This week, he visited Illinois.

Bill Bartmann is in the debt collection business, purchasing debt from creditors for a dime on the dollar and then getting what he can out of it. He says he has settled 4-1/2 million accounts, and he has done it without browbeating the debtors.

"So anybody who tells me you have to do it the wrong way to be effective, I say baloney! I've turned it into a billion-dollar business by doing it the right way," he said. "So anybody who says you gotta be the mean, ugly nasty guy, they're just wrong. They're just absolutely incorrect. So we want to pass laws that make it harder for debt collection companies to abuse consumers."

He says most people with unpaid bills are not "deadbeats" who don’t want to pay, but rather people who experienced a financial hardship, and once their circumstances improve, they'll pay all or part of the debt.

Bartmann has contacted the Illinois attorney general to discuss reforms, including the licensing of collection agents, and requiring better verification of the debt and who owes it.

(Illinois Radio Network)
06 25 11 by Newsroom
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