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Real Estate Portfolio-Building Session for Primerica Group

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Tony & MatthewTony Calloway, a member of The Investors Roundtable, and I are sponsoring an experimental real estate portfolio-building session for the Primerica group he leads in Columbus, GA.  The session will be present to a small group on Monday, June 18, 2007.

The idea for this experimental session was born from a discussion Tony and I had after I had attended one of his Introductory meetings.  I found the session interesting and enlightening.  However, I also found that were opportunities to advance the level of information and opportunities for the Primerica representatives.  These Primerica “reps” already have some level of success and I thought it might be interesting to see how they responded to the portfolio-building ideas and concepts that Wes and I practice in real life which Tony is now learning.

Because Tony and I are big believers of collaboration and we believe that “small ventures lead to bigger ventures”, we both decided this might be fun to try. 

I have heard of Primerica for years and never really learned much about it.  However, my relationship with Tony has warmed me up to the company.  It appears to be a reputable organization unlike many network marketing organizations I have seen.  The fact Primerica appears to be tied to Citigroup is certainly not a bad thing.

The question of “How will Primerica representatives respond to the idea of real estate portfolio-building?” will soon be answered.  I am looking forward to presenting my material in my “direct and real” style to an entirely new audience.

Tony, the forward-thinking and optimistic fellow he is, is already priming me up for the possibility of a follow-up session!  I told him that we would see how it goes!

wtvm

WTVM Channel 9 Revisits Cobra Collections Story & CobraCollectionScam.com

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wtvmZaneta Lowe has quickly followed up on the heels of her June 1, 2007 story on Janice Ledden and the Cobra Collections story by doing a revisit and expansion of the original story.

In today’s story, Zaneta Lowe interviewed a previous landlord of Cobra Collections.  Additionally, she recapped the previous story while introducing my newest website, CobraCollectionScam.com.  You can view the news clip on that site.

CobraCollectionScam.com continues to grow with the surge of new reports and information coming in.  The stories has helped trigger 3 ex-employees to read the website and come forward.

Zaneta has once again done a great service to the local business community.

Onslaught of New Information for CobraCollectionScam.com

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I have to tell you, I am really tired.

The onslaught of information being submitted for CobraCollectionScam.com has taken a significant amount of my time this past week.

I obviously am not required to volunteer my time to sort, organize, and report the new Cobra Collection Agency and Janice Ledden information being submitted to me.  However, I also realize very few people have the flexibility of time, the skills, the means, and the internal fortitude to commit to this course of action.

For years, I have lived and worked in Columbus, GA relatively anonymously.  And now, I find myself in a more visible position in the local area.  Not to mislead anyone to think that I am “famous” locally, but I have met and interacted with more new local people this past week than I have in 3-4 years time!

I think (and hope) I will soon hit a stopping point where I do not have to continually update information.  I believe I have captured most of the important background information but new information and stories could be submitted.

The upside to all of this is that I do not think my time is being wasted.  This new website has shot to the first page within Google on various search names and phrases within a few days.  Obviously, this blog has gathered a lot more local interest than it ever has before.

Sure, I don’t mind being better known but for leading the charge on scam-busting?  That will be an interesting title to add to my resume.

wtvm

My WTVM Channel 9 Appearance on the Cobra Collections Story

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wtvmTwo days ago local TV station WTVM Channel 9 got wind of the brewing Cobra Collections story here in the Columbus GA area.  Zaneta Lowe, reporter for WTVM, paid a visit to Janice Ledden and several “victimized” business customers.  I was one of those unhappy business customers.  I was informed that a fellow business associate, Lisa Mize, of Coldwell Banker Kennon, Parker, Duncan, & Key’s Rental Department, passed my name along as the keeper of the Cobra Collection Agency web page.

Zaneta Lowe left a message for me yesterday morning.  I returned her call around 1pm and she said she was doing a story that would appear at 5pm.  I thought to myself that was very quick but they were committed to doing it.  I informed Zaneta that she needed to be aware of the web page which had more complete information than any one person would know.

Initially, I did not plan to meet with her.  However, seeing as she was going to run the story, I thought I had to accommodate her.  They came over to my home and we sat discussing the situation and story.  While the cameraman was filming, the camera ran out of film which interrupted our flow.  Then, the camera ran low in battery power which caused another interruption.  I bring that up because I provided far more information than what was displayed on the aired story where I stumbled on my words.  I suppose you just never know what will make it on camera and what will be left behind.

In any case, the TV story meant that people are starting to take seriously the Cobra Collections situation I reported months ago.  Surprisingly, Janice Ledden volunteered to talk to Zaneta.  I suppose if she tried to avoid it, it would have made herself look worse.

In any case, the story was covered several times between Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2 on the various newscasts.  I was informed it also made it to the news FOX affiliate (and sister station) WXTX-54 broadcast at 10pm.  A good number of people I know saw the story.  I had no idea so many people watched the news.

The videos have been posted to the Cobra Collection Agency Scam website.

Cobra Collection Agency – Cease & Desist Order

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Typically, I would not make a post of this kind here.  But seeing as I have found some information on Google which negatively associates me with Cobra Collection Agency of Columbus, GA, I must post a response that will also be Google-able (is that a word?) to offset that negative association.

I won’t get into lots of details here but I will reveal some undeniable and absolutely verifiable information.  But there are some things I want to make absolutely clear here. 

As of December 2006, I (as president of my corporation) issued a written Cease and Desist Order to Cobra Collection Agency that we did not want to utilize their collection services any longer (verifiable through a letter I wrote). 

After months of asking for reports and payments (absolutely verifiable through a series of emails and letters), it became too problematic to work with the owner, Janice Ledden, her staff, and firm any longer.  A bad working relationship had to end.

We finally did get a report and a check.  But then that check bounces (absolutely verifiable through a copy of the NSF check).  I have charged my law firm to collect from them.  Can you imagine that?  Collecting from a collections agency?  How ironic is that?  Time will tell if I will get any money from Cobra Collection Agency at all.  If not, I will consider it a valuable lesson learned indeed.

There was a time I was friendly with Cobra Collection Agency and I volunteered to register and set up a website called cobraagency.com.  I have no ownership or management interest in the company.  The only relationship I have with them is simply as an ex-client.  I have relinquished the domain cobraagency.com back to the public.  I want nothing to do with it and regret registering it as it has been misinterpreted by others that I may have had an ownership or management interest in Cobra Collection Agency.  It is simply not true and not the case.

I have my suspicions and opinions of what is going on but I cannot publicly say it.  Nor is it really that important.  What is important to the public at large is that I issued a Cease and Desist Order in December 2006 and wished I had done it sooner.  Getting a NSF check from them only reinforced my thought that I did the right thing.

Update:  For the latest information, visit The Cobra Collections Agency Scam website.