Friday, November 8, 2024

‘Delusional’: Debt collector fined over harsh tactics and comments

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He threatened several people with default judgments, telling one man that he “will simply default your business on Monday”.

“Very easy to do it, we do it regularly and the default never goes away with the systems we use,” he said.

Stanyer in a photo from social media.

He also called the man “delusional”, told him to “stop wasting his time with pathetic emails and simply pay the money that is owed”, badgering him to “grow up and take responsibility and pay bills”.

He rang another man 56 times over five months pursuing a $7500 debt, swearing and threatening him over “what’s coming”.

Stanyer told The Age he works with small businesses, that his firm will close as a result of the prosecution, and he won’t contest the ban.

“The debtor who isn’t paying is protected by CAV and simply complain [sic] and then get out of paying their debt. Not really fair for us to get abused by nearly everyone we speak to and cop this treatment,” he said.

“I’m looking out for small business who are screaming desperately and closing down every day.”

Michael Stanyer

He admitted in a May hearing that he knew he should not be “yelling at people and swear at people”, and that he had begun seeing a psychiatrist and attended an anger management course, as well as going to the gym.

However, when the allegations were put to him, Stanyer remained defiant, saying he was trying to help small businesses struggling during the cost-of-living crisis, and turned his invective towards prosecutors from CAV.

“You know these guys [CAV] are looking out for the criminals and [people] not paying bills and I’m looking out for small business who are screaming desperately and closing down every day,” he told the court.

He said that collection has become difficult because debtors will use the legal system and report him to regulators when he approaches them to pay a bill.

“The latest one is people put IVOs [intervention orders] against you, so then I can’t speak to them from a debt collection point of view, this is why the country is in such a bad way, because small businesses can’t operate any more,” he said.

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