I got a message from my mother in law that it was urgent for me or my husband contact or Cole, Tanner, and Wright immediately and if one of us did not return the call my husband would have a warrant for his arrest. I called and the man told me that we had a delinquent account with Advanced America and that I had to pay it immediately to avoid jail time. I had an account with Advanced America  and was behind so I assumed they turned it over to collections. I made pymt arrangements to pay it off in 3 pymts. On 5/25/11 I had an automatic debit took out of my checking and another one scheduled for 6/10/11 and 6/25/11. I got suspicious of the man because he was very very hateful towards me so I discussed this with my bank and I had to put a stop pymt on the final pymt and cancel my debit card and got a new one. They called after the 3rd pymt was to be pd and was mad because the debit card was invalid. I told him I would send a money order but he had no address to give me. I told him I would called back the next day to make arrangements to pay it although I had no intentions to pay it after I had realized who they were. A wk later I tried to call and it was a non working number!  Unlike a couple post on here that said his name was James King, he told me his was James Cooper, Ext:24. Extremely rude man. It made me sick when I  found out what had happened to me. They got $1,050.00 out of me. Anyone that gets a call from them, PLEASE HANG UP and IGNORE IT. I don't want anyone to get taken like I did. I had to work double shifts for a week to come up with that money to pay them. I get so mad just thinking about it!!!

These people called me back in 2010 saying I owed California Budget Finance $802, which I did back in 2005.  They threatened me with jail time, felony, lawsuit, and I dont know what else.  I ended paying the money in monthly installments.  I remember speaking to a Jim Dale he was really nice and all and it didnt seem weired to me at all.  The thing is that yesterday I received a call saying that they were coming to my house to serve me because I was being served by Westwood Management and that if I didnt pay them they would proceed.  That got me thinking and I decided to call Cole Tanner and Wright and this man answered and he said that this was his perosnal cell phone and that hes had this number for about five months. So I looked for the correct number online and they said that Jim Dale was let go because of fraudulent activity and that they dont have any information about my case and that they never ever worked with California Budget.  Another weird thing is that as I was looking thru my records I found another letter from another company that was mailed to me in November of 2010 also claiming that I owed California Budget. I tried calling them and the numbers are NON WORKING and there website has been deleted.  I guess at that moment I didnt realize that it was the same debt that I was paying two different companies.  Now I realize that this is all a BIG FAT SCAM!!!!!

Back in 2009 this company was calling me threatening I would be arrested if I didn't pay a certain amount to them. I knew I had defaulted on a loan with California Budget Finance so I didn't question anything. But since then I have received phone calls from 3 other agencies about the same issue, as though my case was never closed. The man's name was David Washington with Cole, Tanner and Wright and I paid the money they were requesting. Now I'm really beginning to question if f paying them was the right thing to do, since according to these other companies my case was never closed. The money clearly came out of my account. If this was invalid, I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

They are scammers send box to there office. Do the have a license on Texas, probably don't also make sure they are not double billing you and over charging you. Also o bet they are uneducated by the unprofessionalism and lack of knowledge of the debt. Make sure you get something in writing from them. O will be calling god and the feds tomorrow.

I have a payment scheduled to go to these people this Friday. I too was tol;d about felonies and jail time. They have friends and family phone numbers. I tried to call today to cancel the payment arrangements and discovered the two numbers : 281-888-1750 and 855-645-6451 are NON WORKING NUMBERS!!! What to do now.....

I am both glad and sad that others have had similar experience with this company. I was almost sold that I had this bad check out there from 2004 with Advance America and I was about to pay them ALOT of money. They really sound believeable about warrants and jail-time for check deception. I too am constantly being threated. I too am now being harrassed on my job after I have asked Mr King not to call my job any more. I too have pulled my credit report and there is nothing on it after I was told the debt is on my credit report. I have asked for the proof of debt, only to be told the proof of discrediting the debt is on ME! They refuse to send me ANYTHING is writing, but are demanding my email address. I finally called a friend who is an attorney and she told me DO NOT PAY THESE PEOPLE, IT IS A SCAM!!! She told me if they were smart, they will never send you anything in the mail, because that would be a FEDERAL CRIME! I have tried repeatedly to call Mr King at 1-855-645-6451 ext 35, but the call won't go through. Now they are threatening to turn me over to Goodman and Swatz Firm. Will this ever end...

Who is the owner?

There are two lawsuits currently pending against them, one in Texas, the other one in Florida.

I recieved a call from someone at from this very place and was told to call 855.645.6451...when I called back and asked questions, also requested that info regarding my debt be mailed to me...the agent(or whatever she is) started yelling at me and then hung on me...very unprofessional...DO NOT SEND THESE PEOPLE ANY MONEY!!!!!

Since these fools have an office in Houston and not Pakistan, I would strongly suggest that all of you get friendly with the FDCPA at FTC-dot-gov. Carefully document all calls and record audio if you can. These collection tactics you're all reporting are very hostile and lawbreaking, the kind a good consumer lawyer would jump at on contingency. Else you can prep a civil complaint and solid Intent To Sue letter yourself if you're comfortable doing so or don't mind learning the ropes through forums like Credit InfoCenter and DebtorBoards.

In general, the level of histrionic behavior from a debt collector is indirectly proportioned to its actual proof of claim. Ride 'em hard and score a settlement.

We are going through basically the same thing. Got a call out of nowhere from Mr. James King who stated that we took out a payday loan for $325 back in 2005 from Check Mate. And my call went very similar to MiMi's and everyone's calls. He also threatened felonies and asked if we knew what prison was like "with bubu"....I was so furious that my head was spinning and....well.... here I am reading all of your posts seeing that this guy and this company are a bunch of rip off's who have to be stopped.
Here is a link to the BBB, who gives them a rating of F!!!! Yes that is the same F on the A-F chart!

http://www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/a ... on-tx-90010937/

I am reporting them to the DA and whoever else they need to be reported to....

I got a call today with the same M.O. Except my Check
Was dated 6/29/04. I currently have a loan with advance america (with good standing) and they stated if I had a bad check with them I wouldn't Been able to have my current loan. Cole tanner & wright gave me a store number only #629. when I called advance n gave the store number they said that store number DID NOT exist!

Sorry - that call i got from Florida - was about 6 months ago... got the one from this place in Texas today..

I received this same phone call, nasty voicemail - funny thing is, I received the same type of call from a place in Florida. After almost breaking and sending these scammers monday - I did some researching and found out that this is all, in fact, a BIG SCAM!! First of all, who is going to let a bad check go 10 years before calling and collecting? Second of all, funny every one of these posts say it was Advance America, and third of all, a bad check has a statue of limitations of 6 years or less.  BEWARE~~ these people are definitely scamming you!!

Hello.  I received a letter from Cole, Tanner, & Wright concerning an issuance of a bad check to Advance America.  When I called to inquired about what the debt was concerning since I knew I had not taken out any payday loans, I was informed that it was back in 2001, and it was possible that I could have overlooked this debt.  I was informed that my local Sherriffs Dept had been contacted and a warrant for my arrest would be issued if the debt was not handled.  I immediately stated that I would need documentation showing this debt was mine due to me not having any recollection of the payday loan.  After talking to a family member, I was informed that a scam was going on and that my situation sounded similar to what she heard on the news, so began my research and located this site.  The only difference is that the contact number was not 281-888-1750.  The number 855-645-6451.  The caller seemed very agitated when I asked questions and kept stating "I thought I gave the check numbers and information already."  She was very unprofessional.  I am very concerned that my personal information is floating around in the hands of these people.  I will be contacting the appropriate officials to report this scam immediately!!!

I apologize for my typos in my posted message, :) I'm just so angry that someone would be accusing me of this and being so disrespectful and unwilling to listen to me.

The same thing just happened to me on January 10, 2011. I received the same exact type of call demanding payment for a NSF check. I'm not the type of person to bounce s check and so this freaked me out. I guess I was asking too many questions because the representative put his supervisor on the line. I told her I would need to check with my bank before I was any position to talk to them. I went to my bank the same day and was told do not give them any information because scans are going on. The company could not give me an exact day this alleged check was supposedly written. It was really strange. I called them back and out of the blue they gave me a date from ten years ago! My bank has not been able to locate any information. I called my county's Distict Attorney's Office and was told that payday loans are not prosecutable by law and any misdemeanor NSF checks have a statue of limitations of 2yrs and 5yrs for felonies. I was told to tell this company to call the DA office and stop calling me. Today, Jan 15, I received another call and when I call back, I told him my bank did not find anything on the check number he said was returned. This rep then began telling me two more different check numbers were the two that was returned and denying that he had told me the first check number. He was yelling at me over the phone every time I true to ask questions or defend myself. He eventually hung up in me. I was so pissed I called him back and told him what the DA office said and told him not to call my Jo or my home anymore. This ignorant man told me he will call my house everyday if he wants to. I told him he was very rude and unprofessional and if he called me again I would file a harassment  charge. He told me harrassment is just a state of mind and didn't mean anything. I hung up because I have never experienced anything like this my life. I got online and found out this collection agency is based in Houston, TX so I will be sending them a certified letter and if needed filing a claim in small claims court. They are not registered with the Better Business Bureau so I could file a complaint with them. But, I would not recommend anyone just pay this agency unless you can absolutely verify you had a NSF check. I know I am not doing anything to jeopardize myself any further.

I GOT A CALL FROM THEM TODAY SAYING THEY GOT A CHECK FROM ADVANCED AMERICA AND THAT IF I SENT THEN 52 DOLLARS THEY WOULD STOP ME FROM GETTING A FELONY AND THEN I WOULD SEND THEM THE  REST OF THE MONEY IN PAYMENTS BUT THEY DID NOT HAVE A ADDRESS THAT I COULD SEND IT TO AND NO WESTERN UNION EITHER JUST MY CRIEDIT CARD  AND NOW BECAUSE I WANTED TO KNOW  TO KNOW IF IT WAS A SCAM THEY WONT TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT MY CASE AND THAT IT HAS BEEN SENT TO THE PROSSICUTERS