A Hamburg-based debt collector agreed to pay $125,000 in fines and costs and to reform its business practices in a settlement announced Tuesday by State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

In a news release and court documents, Cuomo accused Lewis Hastie Receivables, 56 Main St., of violating state and federal debt-collection laws.

The Attorney General’s Office said the firm, known as LHR, “repeatedly harassed and intimidated consumers, including some who did not even owe the debt in question.”

“This company’s business model was to harass consumers by calling them multiple times a day, continuously calling them at work after being told not to, and repeatedly calling even after the alleged debt was disputed,” Cuomo said in the news release.

“It is unacceptable for debt-collection companies to use illegal tactics for their own profit, and we will continue to put a stop to the practice,” he added.

LHR President Wayne Lewis said in an e-mailed statement that the firm has been “fully cooperating” with Cuomo’s office during the state investigation over the last year and has reached a settlement to “resolve this matter” but “does not admit to any wrongdoing.”

He also said the “locally owned and operated company” provides “good-paying jobs to hundreds of individuals throughout Western New York” and is “a good corporate citizen that gives back to the community.” The firm was named 2007 Business of the Year by

the Town of Hamburg, according to its Web site.

“LHR takes compliance measures very seriously and invests significant corporate resources to provide employees with training to ensure they are complying with all state and federal laws that regulate the collections industry,” Lewis said in the statement. He declined to comment further, but court documents indicate that the firm has denied Cuomo’s allegations.

The charges against LHR mark the latest action by Cuomo in a continuing investigation of illegal debt-collection practices that began in May 2009.

Cuomo has shut down more than a dozen debt-collection and affiliated process-serving companies, while requiring others to change what he termed “deceptive” practices. He has also gained criminal convictions against 12 individual collectors who “engaged in especially egregious and threatening actions against consumers.”

Most of these actions involved a single enterprise that operated under multiple names. Lawsuits against other collection firms are still pending.

According to the court documents, LHR has been collecting debts since 1996, mostly those that it has purchased from the original creditors. Since January 2007, Cuomo’s office has received 100 complaints about the firm’s business practices, spurring its probe.

Specifically, LHR collectors:

• Went after a Lackawanna man for a debt he didn’t owe.

• Called an Oswego woman up to 16 times in one day to collect a 10-year-old debt of her husband. When she challenged the caller, the collector told her, against the law, that she would be arrested, her house would have a lien placed against it, her car would be confiscated and her wages garnisheed.

• Called a Georgia resident 10 times per day to collect a debt that was inflated to three times the original amount.

• Tried to recover a debt from a Mississippi man that his ex-wife owed. The man told LHR to stop calling him, but the collector said he would call every morning at 8 o’clock.

• Repeatedly called an Iraq War veteran in California regarding a $2,500 cell phone contract from a company with which the veteran never signed a contract. The veteran provided proof, including that he was serving overseas when the contract was signed, but LHR continued calling him.

Federal and state laws bar collectors from posing as attorneys, threatening lawsuits or legal actions that can’t be taken, saying a consumer will be arrested or talking with third parties except to find out where a debtor can be reached. Firms must also stop collection if a debt is properly disputed.

Cuomo has created a Web site, www.NYDebtHelp.com , with more information about consumer rights, the stages of the investigation and how to file complaints with the state.

jepstein@buffnews.comnull