rant-collection agencies

[sourland]

To make a long story short there's a "bad guy" in my town who does not pay his bills. Since our names are similar I am constantly getting dunning phone calls and threats about his bills. This morning I lost my cool and swore at the collection agent. That's not cool, and now I feel like CRAP. How would you handle this situation. Generally I give the last four digits of my Social Security # and my date of birth and they are satisfied and leave me alone for a while. This person would not shut up and listen to my information. Give me some advice.

 

[paddock36]

I would ask for a supervisor when they call you to make sure the information is updated to their files to end any future calls and if that doesn't work explain to them that you will seek legal action for harassment since they have no real reason to call you.

 

[Wifezilla]

There are specific rules a collection agent must follow. If they don't, you can get monetary damages.
"What practices are off limits for debt collectors?

Harassment. Debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse you or any third parties they contact. For example, they may not:

* use threats of violence or harm;
* publish a list of names of people who refuse to pay their debts (but they can give this information to the credit reporting companies);
* use obscene or profane language; or
* repeatedly use the phone to annoy someone.

False statements. Debt collectors may not lie when they are trying to collect a debt. For example, they may not:

* falsely claim that they are attorneys or government representatives;
* falsely claim that you have committed a crime;
* falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit reporting company;
* misrepresent the amount you owe;
* indicate that papers they send you are legal forms if they aren’t; or
* indicate that papers they send to you aren’t legal forms if they are.

Debt collectors also are prohibited from saying that:

* you will be arrested if you don’t pay your debt;
* they’ll seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages unless they are permitted by law to take the action and intend to do so; or
* legal action will be taken against you, if doing so would be illegal or if they don’t intend to take the action.

Debt collectors may not:

* give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit reporting company;
* send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency if it isn’t; or
* use a false company name.

Unfair practices. Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, they may not:

* try to collect any interest, fee, or other charge on top of the amount you owe unless the contract that created your debt – or your state law – allows the charge;
* deposit a post-dated check early;
* take or threaten to take your property unless it can be done legally; or
* contact you by postcard."

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm

 

[sourland]

One guy threatened to come to my home and garnish my two Ford vehicles. I gave him directions to my home. When he asked why I was so nonchalant, I replied, "I haven't owned a Ford since our local dealership screwed me over 25 years ago There are two Nissans in my driveway." The tow truck never showed up.

 

[sgtmom52]

When we moved to our current house almost 8 years ago the phone number we received was previously assigned to another family. We started getting a lot of phone calls which appeared to be from different businesses, charities and possibly collection agencies. At first we just told them they had a wrong number, but the calls kept coming. Also when we would go to stores like Sears and give them our phone number to look up our account ~ the other family information would also come up. We finally tracked down the other family based on the names the callers/stores gave us and tracked them down. They had moved to another town, but still in our county. We now have their new address and phone number and whenever we get a call for them (and yes after 8 years we still occasionally do) we politely explain the situation, give the caller the new information and ask them to delete our number ~ all of the callers now are very happy to have the new information.

 

[sourland]

They just called again.

As I was speaking (not yelling or swearing) the guy hung up on me. They come up as "unavailable on the caller ID and when I hit redial I was unable to access them.

 

[paddock36]

Here's another suggestion that we use because we hate sales calls. We have an answering machine (and caller I.D.). If I don't recognise the number I let the machine get it.

 

[vfem]

Ok... story time!

I'm in a similar boat, except I have these JERKS who give out my phone number rather then theirs when doing such things as - Getting car insurance they don't plan on paying, Going to the hospital, getting credit cards... ect.

So I get calls constantly from collections, doctor's offices and even their CHURCH (because they donated to them, and bounced a check).

Then I had a few bad debts myself (all of which have been taken care of since).

So on to the story:

Last year I get a call from collections, the phone # said Tx... the collection guy was obviously a call center in India... and introduced himself as "Mike". Well, he goes about his whole list of telling me how 'bad' I am, and the I should be ashamed but can easily remedy this by paying what I rightfully owe to them!

So I said to him, are you with a collection service or C***** O** credit? He's with a collection agency 'hired' to track me down and collect. I explained to him politely that a collection service buys a debt at a fraction in hopes to bully the remainder or a fraction of it from me. Its like gambling with someone else's financial errors. They never know if they will collect, and they could take us to court if they chose, but they have to weigh the amount owe'd to court costs, and in most cases they don't pay enough for the debts to take that risk under $10,000. I assured him his boss would be displeased at his lack of knowledge of his own company works. He was getting angry, so I politely asked him "Why do you call me and lie to me, while asking for money? Honey catches more flies."

He assured me he was not lying and had more dignity then that. So I asked him, is "Mike" on your birth certificate? Is that REALLY the name your mama gave you? I don't think its nice to call people and make accusations when you can't be honest on your end. He told me I was basically scum, and that was none of my business and if I had a problem I could talk to his supervisor. His name was 'Brian'. I said I would love to talk to Brian, but again, that was 'not' his name and I'm sure his mama would be appalled that he would change his rightful name so he could call and bully people without being honest. Calling people under a false pretense is illegal in case he was wondering how it worked in our country.

I was cussed at loudly in a language I did not understand... and the phone slammed down. Needless to say... they NEVER called again.

My husband was in the background, on the floor laughing so hard he was trying to cover his mouth so he could hear the whole conversation. He said the kicker was how calm and cool I was the whole time and he could hear the guy yelling in frustration on the other end.

 

[Wifezilla]

Ditch the home phone and just go cell.

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
x2