Collection Agency has wrong person! HELP!

[LisaDougKaylee]

I’m usually more of a lurker than a poster…but I was hoping you knowledgeable people could help.

After marrying my husband, I have become the third Lisa __________ in the family. There is his brother’s wife Lisa, and his cousin Lisa. We have been married 2 ½ years. Last week we started getting calls from a collection agency on a debt his cousin owes. She is Lisa M _______, I am Lisa A ________. This week, in the mail we have just started receiving notices from collection agencies too.

HOW DO I FIX THIS!!??? We are getting about 5 calls a day from at least 2 different agencies. The mailed notices are from the same agency.

HOW DO I FIX THIS!!??? If anyone knows, could you please guide me?

 

[mjantz]

This is probably not going to help but...A few years ago we started getting phone calls & letters for a former resident of our house. I kept saying 'She doesn't live here. Hasn't for almost 6 years & I don't know where she went.'

Then, one morning, someone from the courts showed up with a summons for her. DH said 'She does not live her & hasn't for about 6 years' & he left & we've not heard another peep either phone-wise or in the mail.

I don't know if I had answered the door if I would have had to prove I wasn't her but the guy didn't push the issue at all.

I would say the entire thing from start to summons was about 2 months.

 

[Irin997]

This seems to have happened to me. I got a new home phone and have now inherited the previous owners collection calls. I just tell them that this is not their number, that it is my new number and they very nicely apologize to me. Good luck!

 

[shawnandjeff]

This has happened to my husband too...we even had a detective show up at the front door! For the collection agencies, we've just told them they have the wrong person each time. Not fun...Good luck!

 

[Lisa_M]

Can you just give them the cousin's phone number?

 

[KJF]

I worked in credit card collections & there are rules they must follow once you inform them you are not the right person. They are harrassing you - let them know you are reporting them to the BBB or threaten to get a lawyer - take names & tell them you are documenting the callse for a lawsuit. They'll stop!

Depending on the state you're in, if you have a do not call list & are on that, you can also inform them of that & tell them you're reporting them.

Good luck!

 

[shades]

The mail is easy to fix - write "incorrect address - return to sender" on the envelope and drop it in a mailbox.

Phone calls seem to be more difficult to stop. I've dealt with a really nasty collector who would hang up on me as soon as I would tell him wrong number and he continued to call frequently throughout the day. I eventually began answering the phone with "don't hang up and let me explain" and was finally able to convince the guy that he was wasting his time bugging me.

Another collector called and he actually listened the first time when I told him he had the wrong person and wrong phone number to find that person. He was really nice and never called back.

In your case, I wouldn't tell them they are looking for a cousin - I'd just tell them that you aren't the person they are looking for. Good luck!!

 

[LisaDougKaylee]

I would love to give them my husband's cousin's number...but we don't know it. We don't know her address. She likes a nomad, she keeps wandering. My husband has tried getting info from his uncles, but he didn't know it (or wouldn't share it).

When were getting married, the shower invite was addressed c/o her father. The wedding invitation was c/o her sister, same thing with the baby shower. She always responded she was coming then never showed, no apology or anything. (typical- but thats a whole other story)

 

[LisaDougKaylee]

I don't plan on telling them its his cousin for two reasons (at least):
1. I don't want to be associated with her in ANY way.
2. We're really only surmising it is her. The middle initial is the only thing cluing us in to that.

Thanks for all your help. The only problem is, its always worked out to be husband who happens to answer the phone when they call. He's so hot headed and can't stand his cousin that he loses his temper I don't think the caller really cares if they have they right person, they just enjoy getting my husband so angry!! They probably sit there laughing at him, they get him so irate!

 

[Kies99]

This seems to have happened to me. I got a new home phone and have now inherited the previous owners collection calls. I just tell them that this is not their number, that it is my new number and they very nicely apologize to me. Good luck!

I had this same situation JUST LAST MONTH! I kept getting these recorded messages saying to call a 1-800 number concerning "Business". No name or anything left. Finally after the 8th one I looked up the number on-line and found it was a collection agency. I called it back and the phone number must have popped up on the screen because the guy immediately had info and after I said I thought they had the wrong number he said "are you so and so" and I said "No" and he said "Sorry about that. We'll remove you" and I haven't heard back since.

I worked in credit card collections & there are rules they must follow once you inform them you are not the right person. They are harrassing you - let them know you are reporting them to the BBB or threaten to get a lawyer - take names & tell them you are documenting the callse for a lawsuit. They'll stop!

Depending on the state you're in, if you have a do not call list & are on that, you can also inform them of that & tell them you're reporting them.

Good luck!

I concur with the above. I'd also suggest you go to freecreditreport.com and get your credit report and just make sure you don't have something out there. Someone could have opened an account and just changed the middle initial.

 

[pixiewings71]

When I came home from work a few days ago I had a message on my machine for Kathryn G _________ saying they were a debt attorney and I needed to call them. I called them right back, shockingly they were there (it was almost 6 when I got home) and I told the woman who answered that "I got home and there is a message on my machine for Kathryn ______ and it's not me." Quite nastily she said "How do you know?" to which I replied (in about the same tone LOL) "Because my name is NOT Kathryn G ___________, it is something else, no G." After which she apologized profusely and said she would update their records. LOL There are a lot of people with my name in my area, when I get these letters/calls I just tell them I have no idea who they are looking for and they normally go away. A few times we've had to "update their records" 3 or 4 times but eventually they get it.

My favorite was when I lived in an apartment, I'd been there for about 2 years and some guy showed up with a court summons looking for some woman who had been a resident about 3 years before I lived there. I politely told him he had the wrong addy and she hadn't lived there for at least 2 years (at the time I didn't know when she had moved out but I knew how long I had been there) and he got very beligerent with me, told me flat out I was a liar and he knew I was that person. I told him that if he continued to get rude with me I would call the police and prove who I was, then I asked if he wanted to talk to my apt. manager who had heard him yelling at me and came out of her office (my unit was at the end of the building next to her office and we were very good friends) to see what was going on. She basically walked over and asked if there was a problem, he again accused me of lying about who I was and she started laughing, told him that person had moved out and was a 50+ year old woman. LOL I was about 20 at the time. LOL He left, but we could tell it was reluctant, he still thought we were lying! LOL

 

[TaraPA]

I don't plan on telling them its his cousin for two reasons (at least):
1. I don't want to be associated with her in ANY way.
2. We're really only surmising it is her. The middle initial is the only thing cluing us in to that.

Thanks for all your help. The only problem is, its always worked out to be husband who happens to answer the phone when they call. He's so hot headed and can't stand his cousin that he loses his temper I don't think the caller really cares if they have they right person, they just enjoy getting my husband so angry!! They probably sit there laughing at him, they get him so irate!

Same thing happened to us last year with a family member. DHs sister stopped making her car payments & they were trying to reposses or find her. They called us several times a day, they obviously knew DH was the brother but I still just said I didn't know her because I didn't want to get involved. The sister has problems & there was no way I was associating my family with that. They eventually stopped calling after about 2 weeks. We have caller ID so we just never picked up after the 1st few calls of me saying I had no idea who the person was.

 

[paladin]

I'd also suggest you go to freecreditreport.com and get your credit report and just make sure you don't have something out there

You don't want this site - you have to get a monitoring service (that you pay for) to get the free report. The site you want is http://www.annualcreditreport.com

 

[Kies99]

You don't want this site - you have to get a monitoring service (that you pay for) to get the free report. The site you want is http://www.annualcreditreport.com

You are correct. My fault. I keep hearing those adds on TV and the radio and always get it mixed up.

Definitely go with ANNUALCREDITREPORT.com.

 

[MomofKatie]

We had this happen to us several years ago- my DH has a very common name, and the state we lived in attached a child support judgement to his credit report. We started getting calls from a collection agency, and we got turned down for an auto loan by every bank we applied at.

We had to get in touch with the credit reporting agencies and fill out afadavits stating that my DH was not the James W_____ that had the judgement against him. We faxed over a copy of our marraige certificate and a notarized copy of his birth certificate, and the reporting agencies corrected our credit report. Within a few days, the collection agents stopped calling.

 

[MyGoofy26]

Definitely watch your credit reports to make sure none of these people are inserting her bad tradelines onto your report, as already mentioned.

You have the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in your favor. The FDCPA allows you to request full or partial cease and desist. In this case, since they aren't your debts, a full C&D is in order. You can call or write (or when you answer when they call) and let them know that you are demanding they cease ALL collection attempts, it isn't your debt, and per the FDCPA they must not continue to call, mail or email or they'll find themselves in violation of the FDCPA. Be sure to mention the FDCPA - most people, unfortunately, don't know there's an Act out there that outlines all of our rights as consumers and the collection agencies count on that so they can continue to break the law without being held accountable. Make a note of names, dates, times, etc that you let these people know they are to stop contacting you and then if they continue, make note (or save mail, etc) as well. You could walk away with thousands of dollars if they violate the cease and desist.


Oh and DO NOT tell them that the person they are looking for is a cousin. They have a right to contact family members, neighbors, etc. in order to track down a debtor. So if they don't have her correct info (obviously they don't if they're hounding you) then they may turn around and start bugging you for information, thinking you're just avoiding telling them how to contact her.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I’m usually more of a lurker than a poster…but I was hoping you knowledgeable people could help.

After marrying my husband, I have become the third Lisa __________ in the family. There is his brother’s wife Lisa, and his cousin Lisa. We have been married 2 ½ years. Last week we started getting calls from a collection agency on a debt his cousin owes. She is Lisa M _______, I am Lisa A ________. This week, in the mail we have just started receiving notices from collection agencies too.

HOW DO I FIX THIS!!??? We are getting about 5 calls a day from at least 2 different agencies. The mailed notices are from the same agency.

HOW DO I FIX THIS!!??? If anyone knows, could you please guide me?

A federal law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, gives you rights when a third-party collection agency is attempting to collect a debt. Here's a link to the statute -----> link

You don't bear the burden of proof, and you don't have to give someone up. Once you notify the collection agency in writing that you are disputing the debt, they are required to validate the debt.

You can also notify them in writing that you do not want to receive any phone calls, and they're required to honor that request except "(1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector's further efforts are being terminated; (2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked by such debt collector or creditor; or (3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy."

Section 623 of another federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, requires those reporting information to credit reporting agencies to report that the consumer disputes the debt. The FCRA is here -----> link (PDF reader required)

Please don't let this substitute for actual legal advice from an attorney in your jurisdiction. Good luck.

 

[LisaDougKaylee]

Thanks to all of you!!!! I've gotten some really good information.

Since writing, I've also contacted the state's attorney generals office and they informed me I can file a complaint with them as well. I was directed to their website and the form I need to fill out.

I really just want the calls to stop. I also plan on getting copies of my credit report. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her to steal my identity either, but since the SS#'s don't match nor the DOB, I'm not too worried. The agencies could however mess up their reportings.

 

[jagafen]

http://www.information-entertainment.com/Consumer/CollectionAgencies2.html

check it out.......

 

[Melody D]

Since writing, I've also contacted the state's attorney generals office and they informed me I can file a complaint with them as well. I was directed to their website and the form I need to fill out.

I really just want the calls to stop. I also plan on getting copies of my credit report. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her to steal my identity either, but since the SS#'s don't match nor the DOB, I'm not too worried. The agencies could however mess up their reportings.

Do I dare admit I am a bill collector? Couple of things here. Filing a complaint with the Attorney General office really is not going to do you any good. They really can't do anything to help you thus you are just wasting your time. Plain and simple they have the wrong person. They don't want to waste their time calling you any more than you want to take the call. Explain to them that you know there is someone else with your name only the middle initial is different. They will ask you if you have a contact # for the person, tell them no, no other explination is needed.

We have a tough job to do (but I love it)! Many times we have to track down a person as we do not have a phone number or address for them, sometimes we find the wrong person and once you let us know we are happy to remove it

Do keep an eye on your credit report. This can very easily pop up on your credit and it can be a pain to fix. What happens is the agency may list it with just a name (say Jane Smith) and you are Jane A Smith. The credit bureau has been known to overlook other identifiers such as Date of Birth or Social Security # and place it on the wrong Jane Smith's report. The collection agency can not fix this, the credit reporting agency has to.

Also the do not call list does not apply to bill collectors, we are not solicitors.