Anybody else ever have a collector calling by mistake - and they

[leftyladyfrommo]

won't quit calling?

I think it took me over a month to get rid of these guys. Security Check out of Mississippi. It wasn't my name, or my address. But somehow they had my phone number. And they called two or three times everyday. And I told them and told them it wasn't me.

One collector would actually call, ask for Mary and then when she heard my voice she would disconnect. It was very irritating.

So I finally looked up the person they were after in the phone book and just gave them the right phone number. Then I kind of felt guilty about that. But better them calling the person who wrote the bad checks than bothering me.

[ThomCat]

1. If they were an individual person, instead of a company,

you could have them charged with harassment or criminal mischief. But corporations are insulated.

And the first line of insulation is that the police won't let you final a complaint against a corporation, so you can't document the problem. Our entire criminal justice system is built to punish the individual, and to give corporations free reign.

[supernova]

2. College student loan

I once had a collector repeatedly call me and threaten to sue if I didn't pay up within 72 hours!! I was litteraly in tears because I didn't know what to do. I was married and in my mid-20s. No one had ever accused me of such a thing before.

I finally got this awful woman to tell me exactly who she thought she was talking to. I got her to read me the SS # because the names were identical. But I spell my name differently from 99% of all others with this name. This awful collectroll (as liberalhistorian calls them) told me I was lying and that SHE WAS GOING TO SUE!!

Turns out she was looking for someone else with my name and same employer, but different address in a different state who had defaulted on a student loan. I knew it wasn't me because I had never signed for a student loan. Ever. Though I would not have put it past my ex at the time that he would have signed such a document for me. He was irresponsible with money in the extreme. That was a niggling worry in the back of my mind.

No apology, no nothing for the repeated abuse. Just "Oh," Click.

edit: That experience as much as anything else has contributed to my determination to live debt free. I don't want to owe anyone anything in a monetary way. If I can't pay for it outright, I won't do it.

[skygazer]

3. People need to know their rights in regards to collection

Any time a collection agency calls, whether its for me or not, I get an address (usually the only way I can do this is by insinuating I want it to mail a payment).

I then send them a letter, certified with a return receipt, informing them that I do not wish to work with a debt collection agency and that they are to cease all communications with me.

Which, by law, they have to do. And they will, because they know the law, too. They just try to intimidate the snot out of people because they know most people are honest and want to pay their debts and because they know most people have no idea that they have a choice.

[bearfan454]

7. Exactly.

http://www.budhibbs.com has a free letter you can use. I've used it many times.

[DarkTirade]

4. One of my friends at work had that problem.

Didn't matter how many times he told these people that he wasn't the guy they were asking for, they had the wrong number... they still called back.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Yes, and they were persistent little bastards until I read them the riot act.

Among other annoying things, the jerks kept asking for my SSN as a way to confirm that I wasn't the person they sought. I explained that like most people with good credit I don't give out my SSN to any random person who calls me.

Unfortunately you have less protection as an uninvolved party than you would if you owed the debt because of the way the Fair Debt Collection Practices act is written, but I always mention the act and tell them that I am invoking my rights under the act and their repeated calls after they have been told it's not the right number constitutes harassment.

(the section of the law is § 806. Harassment or abuse <15 USC 1692d>)

A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:

(1) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person.

(2) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.

(3) The publication of a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay debts, except to a consumer reporting agency or to persons meeting the requirements of section 603(f) or 604(3)1 of this Act.

(4) The advertisement for sale of any debt to coerce payment of the debt.

(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.

(6) Except as provided in section 804, the placement of telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller's identity.

Whether they are required to desist because of this I don't know because I'm not a lawyer, but most of them back off when they hear the magic words "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."

I know that they have a tough job tracking down people who skip on debts but that's no excuse for abusing the rest of us. By the way, if "Mary's" number is listed in your phone book the debt collectors are also morans because Telephone Tracing 101 begins with calling the listed numbers. I used to trace people for a living (not as a debt collector!)

[MorningGlow]

6. Constantly

Our present house, which we bought at the end of 2005, was a rental, and the renters were of questionable character. As far as I can tell, at least one female, possibly two (unless the one had an alias), have defaulted on loans--I think for school. From the moment we moved in, we got their mail, their phone calls, and even knocks on the door from collectors. While DH and I were at work one day, our neighbor saw one of these cretins creeping around our house and peering in our windows!

We used to just hang up on the collectors, but, human or autocall, they just kept coming. So finally I started using the same line you should use on solicitors when you're on a state's "do not call" list--"Take me off your list immediately." That translates into "Keep it up and I'll report you and then you'll have to pay a fine." Worked every time. 'Course, because I'm a bit softhearted, I gave them more information than I needed to: "(Sigh.) Not this again. Look: Bxxx Sxxx does not live here. Our name is Xxxxx. We bought this house two years ago. This is our phone number. It was never Bxxx's. No, I don't know her. No, I never met her. No, I don't know where she is now. No, I don't know her new phone number." Etc.

This has gotten even the autocalls off our backs (you can't speak in response to an autocall, because that implies you are the peson they're looking for, but you can call the number back and get a human being, usually in India, but that's for another thread)--at least for a while. Yeah, they always seem to start up again, with a different agency, but I can now kill them off by taking just a few minutes to shut them down the first time they call.

[Beausoir]

8. It's happening to me right now. Some woman used my cell number.

Mostly I get automated calls now.

[Steve_in_California]

9. How to get a bill collector fired

Promise to pay the balance in full. Then, when they get nothing from you, they will call again. That's when you deny ever speaking to anyone. If the same guy calls back, tell him he's in luck because your father just died and left you a fortune. You will be out of town for a week to attend the reading of the will. When he calls back, you say your father cut you out of the will because someone from the collector's company had been calling your father demanding payment.

[SacredCow]

10. I'm cursed with that problem....

It has happened to me more times than I can remember.....

Had one agency calling asking for this guy that had stopped making payments on his Camaro. At first I was nice, telling them they had the wrong number. Ultimately, they started accusing me of being this guy and lying. "We KNOW it's you, and we're going to come repo that Camaro...." My response (since I have never owned such a car): "PLEASE come take it, and beat the ever-loving crap out of me as you do it!!!!"

Another time, a collection agency kept calling me looking for some woman that had stopped paying on a line of credit. At the time, I was working rotating shifts and my employer would periodically have to call me during my off (aka sleep) time so if the phone rang I had to answer it. Right out of the gate, the collection agency was calling 10 to 15 times per day waking me up every time, and they were WAY out of line with their questions... "Well, if you aren't her then what's your name? Where do you live? Where do you work?" My response to each, of course, was a resounding "None of your f***ing business!!" After a couple of days, I found a phone number for the agency and called them, working my way up their food chain. When I got to someone who sounded reasonably intelligent, I let them have about 10 shades of holy hell and threatened to sue them if the calls continued. Never heard from them again.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I had one once who tried to collect payment for a medical bill from my then 3 yo son.

[China_cat]

12. I had a company keep calling here for my son.

When I told them to call him and not me, they got really nasty. Telling me that I'd better get used to them calling because they weren't going to quit until they got their money from me if they couldn't get it from him. (And no, I hadn't co-signed for anything)

At the time, my husband's father was extremely ill and wasn't expected to live. I tried to tell them this and asked them to leave the line clear. They said they'd keep it busy and there was nothing I could do about it. I blocked them and called the phone company. Never heard from them again.

[alarimer]

13. Someone has been calling me for months

I am sick of it. They are asking for an Oscar Dimas I think. He does not live here. I have had my phone number for 10 years. I have lived in this place for three. I even put something on my answering machine- "Nobody named Oscar lives here so stop calling me!" It hasn't worked.