Hawkeye Financial Group, an Oregon debt collection agency, was recently shut down by state authorities for violating Oregon law and fined $13,400 in civil penalties, reports Inside ARM (“Oregon Shutters Debt Collection Agency,” Oct. 20, 2008).

After receiving a series of complaints from Hawkeye clients that the Salem-based agency wasn’t remitting the money it collected from consumers on behalf of those clients, Oregon’s Division of Finance and Corporate Securities, an arm of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, initiated a formal investigation.

The DFCS found that Hawkeye Financial Group wasn’t properly registered to collect debt in Oregon, as required by state law. In the course of its investigation, the DFCS also discovered that Hawkeye’s owners, James Carl Johnson and Danny Michael Lewitzke, were operating the company under assumed names.

“To protect consumers and businesses, Oregon law requires collection agencies to be registered,” said David Tatman, administrator of the DFCS. “Collection agencies must not engage in dishonest or fraudulent practices in their collections business, and they are required to account for all the funds collected from debtors. We will sanction those who violate these and other requirements.”

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