Attorney General McLaughlin announced today that the State of New Hampshire has filed suit in Merrimack County Superior Court against Cross Country Bank, Inc., and its affiliate, Applied Card Systems, Inc., both of Wilmington, Delaware, charging both with violations of the state's Fair Debt Collection Act and the Consumer Protection Act. The multiple-count complaint seeks a restraining order and civil penalties to be paid to the injured consumers and to the State.

According to Attorney General McLaughlin, Cross Country Bank, Inc. issues credit cards to consumers who are considered at high risk of default due to prior credit problems, or just because the consumer is of low income. When a card holder falls behind on his or her payments, Applied Card Systems acts as Cross Country Bank's collection agency. "We are alleging that its employees then use unfair, deceptive, or abusive methods to collect the debt. Among these abusive methods are numerous and repeated telephone calls daily to the consumer at home or at work, calls to the consumer's family, making threats of imprisonment for failure to pay, and more," McLaughlin said. "All these acts are illegal under New Hampshire law," McLaughlin added.

"New Hampshire has laws in place which protect citizens from abusive debt collection practices, and the Department of Justice intends to see that these laws are complied with," Attorney General McLaughlin stated. " If a consumer is considering applying for a new credit card, my advice is that he or she should first do some research into the business practices of the credit card issuer," McLaughlin said. "This can be done by calling the Better Business Bureau, the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau of the Attorney General's Office, and by consulting the many resources available on the internet," McLaughlin stated.