Attorney General Kicks Two Collection Agencies Out of State

Darrell McGraw, Attorney General of West Virginia and occasional Web video producer, announced Tuesday that his office had secured an order to force two out of state debt collection agencies to cease recovery activities in the Mountain State.

A circuit court judge enjoined Ezell Williams of Illinois and Frontier Financial Group, LLC, of Nevada from collecting debts in West Virginia until licensed by the state and further banned the agencies from collecting Internet payday loans, according to a statement from McGraw’s office. The two companies did not show up for the hearing and were unreachable for comment.

Payday loans are illegal in West Virginia.

“It is unacceptable for unscrupulous companies to ignore our state’s licensing laws while legitimate companies comply,” Attorney General McGraw said. “My office will promptly intercede whenever we learn of attempts to collect usurious payday loans issued by shadowy companies over the Internet.”

The court order is the latest action in McGraw’s long-running scrutiny of the Internet payday lending industry. Since it began its investigations in 2005, McGraw’s office has entered into settlement agreements with 112 Internet payday lenders and their collection agencies, resulting in approximately $2.5 million in refunds and cancelled debts for nearly 8,000 West Virginia consumers.