Founded in 1995 Nationwide Credit Inc is nationwide, operating offices in New York, California, Georgia and Arizona as well as branches in British Columbia and India. Services include a broad range of collections and call center activities.

Snapshot

Founded in 1995, currently owned by Ocwen Financial Corp (June, 2007).
Headquarters: Kennesaw, GA, USA
Employees: ~ 5,000
Website: www.ncirm.com (Note, this site has been unavailable "NCI is currently updating its website" since 22 September 2009)
Services: Call centers, billing, skip tracing, legal services in collaboration with local attorneys for debt collection.
Notable Clients: Shell Energy, American Express, AllTel, Terminix, DirecTV

Behind the Scenes
In October of 1998, NCI paid the highest fine ever for violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act. In a consent decree filed with the Federal Trade Commission, NCI paid a million dollars and agreed to a comprehensive training program for all its current and future employees. Among the violations cited were:
• called places of employment when such calls were prohibited by employers • used profanity on collection calls • implied criminal penalties for failure to pay a debt • failed to notify consumers of their rights • ignored written disputes of debts from consumers and failed to obtain verification of debts • threatened law suits as a means of debt collection

Ten years later on, the question is how much have the collection practices of NCI changed?

Their listing at the Better Business Bureau isn't encouraging. Of 152 complaints received over the last three years, only 50 have been resolved. Although not a member of the BBB and not subject to arbitration, usually companies will make some effort to handle complaints that originate with the BBB. Nationwide Credit Inc gets the lowest grade BBB hands out -- an F.

An online poll (ocwen-complaints.blogspot.com) with 410 respondents had an overwhelming majority (72%) calling for NCI ocwen to be shut down by the government.

Web searches will find the usual complaints from consumers who actually owe money and simply don't like being called. They view such calls, which are legal, as harrassment. One consistent theme was NCI's use of the Audix automatic phone dialing system.

This system calls repeatedly with a recording asking to speak to the debtor by name. Again, legal (and from NCI's point of view a cost-saving practice) but annoying.

On the Web

While currently under construction, the Wayback Machine shows a snap of NCI's site from late 2008. Very plain, the site simply lists the normal about us, locations and careers in tabs and short filler paragraphs. It isn't designed to have any other function than a simple, "we exist".

Of Note:

While NCI does the offers the usual call center and collection services it differentiates itself from the pack in two interesting ways. The first is a network of attorneys who can provide consulting services (and manage law suits) in the areas of Cease and Desist, Bankruptcy, Deceased, and Dormant Judgment programs. The second is a solid program for skip tracing.

Skip tracing involves tracking debtors down and verifying information on accounts as current. This is a useful program because federal credit regulations require accountability from collection activities: the right person, the right debt. They use an extensive data base and continually update and improve it.