Lawsuit: Debt Collector Harassment Contributed To Man's Death

[G_j]

http://consumerist.com/5362483/lawsuit-debt-collector-harassment-contributed-to-mans-death


Lawsuit: Debt Collector Harassment Contributed To Man's Death
By Laura Northrup, 11:30 AM on Sat Sep 19, 2009

When a Florida man suffered a heart attack, he needed to leave his job. Between everyday expenses and medical bills, he fell behind on his mortgage and other bills, and debt collectors began calling. And calling. And calling. Eventually, a lawsuit alleges, the stress from the harassing and abusive phone calls led to the man's death. Frivolous lawsuit? Maybe not.

The Florida law firm Morgan and Morgan is looking to sue collection agencies that have made consumers' lives miserable—including those who don't owe anyone money in the first place. Tactics used by the worst collectors range from insults to racial slurs to calling debtors' friends and relatives to report their deaths. No, really.

On one of Howard's cases from July, he says, a debt collector called the best friend of a woman suggesting the friend had died. Ericka Cartagena of Winter Springs says her friend frantically called her brother, throwing her entire family into a panic when they couldn't reach her by phone.

"Everyone thought I was dead!" said an angry Cartagena who, to this day, has no idea why the debt collection company called. She is making payments on a used car, but says she previously made all her payments on time.

She and her attorney believe the statement suggesting her death may have been a mistake, but is often a deliberate attempt by collection companies to prompt an immediate call back from unsuspecting family members.
..

[derby378]

1. What sort of criminal charge can be filed against this parasite, however?

This is a tough one. The debt collector can say that he didn't want anyone to get hurt, he just wanted the money. But something has to be done.

[cbdo2007]

3. Tell everyone you know about the Fair Debt Colletions Act - and their rights

to get these people to stop.

I haven't had a problem since I discovered it and have used it to my advantage.

[ejpoeta]

5. they count on the fact that most people don't know their rights. i am speaking more to the

3rd party collectors who buy debt in bulk for pennies and then try to collect with no regard to whether it is a valid debt or anything else. Their goal is to get as much money out of people as they can. If you haven't seen the movie "maxed out" i highly recommend it... very good movie about this practice. And record any conversations with any of these people. and keep track of any and all communications and calls. any correspondence you send including validation letters should be sent registered so that you have proof that they received it.

[cbdo2007]

7. Correct - and though I know many people on DU aren't Dave Ramsey fans...

he does an excellent job trying to get the word out about how to protect yourself against these collectors and creditors who are harrassing you. Really - for this information there is no better public figure helping consumers to protect themselves.

First thing to do if someone is getting calls too often is you can tell them you will only deal with them through the mail. If they call again send them a registered letter (like you said) telling them you will only deal with them through the mail. If they call again, report/sue them.

...and to the Dave Ramsey bashers out there...please save any negative comments. I know he's an asshole about a bunch of stuff but protecting consumers from harrassing creditors is not one of them.

[roguevalley]

12. If this is you and you aren't well, put an answering machine on and

screen your calls. Don't pick up. It could save your life.

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. No, it doesn't. Use your intelligence.

[laughingliberal]

2. There are laws protecting consumers from harrassment but...

It often turns out to be a case of your word against theirs. Years ago I hit on the idea of telling any collector that called me that I would be taping the conversation. Amazing how reasonable they get after that. We have been struggling with our mortgage payments for a couple of years but have not hit the magic number of 90 days where the danger of foreclosure gets real. The company kept calling me and I kept telling them I would pay when I had the money. They would call every day. Finally, I told one that I did want to hold on to my house but the desire had its limits and if I got one more phone call from them I would drop the keys to the house at the nearest office and they could have it. No more calls. :)

[ddeclue]

11. The problem with sending a "drop dead" letter is that they take this as refusal to pay

and have their lawyers file a lawsuit to collect the debt via court judgement so be careful about using a drop dead letter.

Doug D.

[Kansas Wyatt]

4. Roll back the bankruptcy law.

After what Corporate America just did to the economy and had to be bailed out, it is only fair to roll back the bankruptcy law to protect people.

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. It's long overdue; indeed, too late, for the poor, dispossessed home owners,

now homeless.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. Caller ID is a blessing. If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer the phone.

And if someone leaves me a message, they better tell me who they are and what it's about.

[imdjh]

8. Seriously. Caller ID has been around long enough that these companies have to know that.

Which is also why I don't take polls seriously, anyone's polls even if I agree with them. No one except the paranoid parent (It could be Johnny calling from the kidnapper's house) and the really bored answer unknown caller or unrecognized numbers.

[ddeclue]

10. Bill collectors NEVER leave messages on tape.

They use predictive dialers to connect you to their phone bank of harassers.

If it detects a machine it hangs up.

When I was unemployed after a while I simply set my phone to reject numbers I had identified as collectors and paid them what I could WHEN I could.

I'm now catching up and working again and have made nice with my creditors and the phones have finally stopped ringing.

[ddeclue]

9. Way to Go John! - I've met John Morgan and he's been a huge Democratic supporter

particular financially over the years.

Way to go!

Morgan and Morgan - For the People!

That's their slogan.

:D

[TrogL]

13. I sat on a board of directors with a debt collector

Possibly the most irritating person I've ever had to deal with. He was perfectly suited for the job.

He:

• had absolutely no boundaries
  
• thought in glorious black and white
  
• engaged in every logical fallacy in the book
  
• routinely called women "it"
  
• wallowed in hypocrisy
  
• engaged in amazing "left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" behaviour
  
• was the poster child for the authoritarian mindset
  

...and that was just the nice things.

Other things were even more baffling.

He spent hours helping me craft and made significant positive constributions to a 20-page-long motion (it was a major policy change with significant ramifications) that we both knew damn well he was going to vote against (it passed over his foaming-at-the-mouth objections).

When I temporarily became homeless, he immediately offered to take me under his roof (I'd made other arrangements).

A week later he was screaming at me again.

[positrac]

14. Those guys should be required by law to give their own personal information to

anyone they have called who requests it. If they know MY name, address and phone number I want to know THEIRS.