The Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection recently shut down Zenith Financial Group, a Metro Atlanta-based collection agency.  As part of the agreement, Zenith agreed to cease collections on $3.1 in purported debt.

Zenith was accused of violating the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act by threatening consumers with arrest or imprisonment and concealing that its collectors were contacting consumers to collect a debt and any information they obtained could be used for that purpose.

 If you receive a call from anyone attempting to collect a debt on behalf of Zenith, make notes of the call and contact the Office of Consumer Affairs.  However, if you do have a legitimate debt Zenith was attempting to collect there is likely nothing stopping another collection agency from taking over the account, at least according to the articles and press releases.  If you receive calls from another agency that claims to have taken over a debt from Zenith, it is probably still a good idea to contact the OCP.