Debt Collection Call-Not Mine

[ctinct]

I have a strong feeling that this is illegal. Even though I am not this person, I'd like to complain SOMEWHERE, but just not sure where I should contact. If anyone knows, please tell me.

I came home a little while ago and had a message on my machine. It was looking for a person, and said if I was not that person, to hang up and call a certain # to get taken off their call list. However, since I was not home, I obviously could not do that. The message then went on to say that by continuing to listen to the message, I would be acknowledging I was "John Smith." The message then stated it was an attempt to collect a debt. Pretty darn sleazy if you ask me. I know that no one except John Smith is supposed to know that he is being contacted by a debt collector. Can this company get away with leaving a message saying by not hanging up, they assume it is John Smith? Obviously they are going to run into a LOT of instances of answering machines taking these calls, so even though I am not John Smith, they are assuming that they have contacted him. It just seems to be a real slick way to skirt the law. I'm kind of angry on behalf of John Smith---I should not have been told that he is being contacted by a debt collector. I've received other calls which I KNOW are debt collectors looking for other people ("this is not a solicitation. This is a personal and private business matter. Please call us back at...." type of thing.) However, this call seems to have crossed the line by being explicit. Any suggestions on what to do and who to contact?

 

[BSil]

I think they can do this. I had a similar situation where I was getting calls from debt collectors looking for someone at my neighbor's house. They would call my wife nearly daily, and tell her she had to go next door, and deliver the information. She didn't tell me right away, and when I found out, I went berserk. I called them up, and went up one side and down the other. I then told them that unless they were sending her a check to "work" for them, then she would do no such thing. I also called a lawyer friend. After some research he found that they could indeed call others in an attempt to collect a debt. Well, basically my only option was to call the phone company, and have the number blocked, so they couldn't call into my line anymore. I also, went to the neighbors, and gave them a lecture about paying their bills. Crazy that collection agencies can get away with some of this stuff.

 

[sukaryan]

According to Dave Ramsay, you call them and tell them to stop harrassing you. You are not that person. Also, and you might have to check our Dave's website about this, I remember him mentioning a law that they are not allowed to bother you especially if you arent the person who incurred the debt. Call them, tell them that it is not you ect and they should leave you alone. I had to do this on my cell phone. It took two calls, but they went away. Good luck!

 

[Anthony1971]

Yes they can call you to ask but most are not open about it.. they will say I am form this bank trying to contact .... can you please ask them to call me at .....
To stop an agency from calling you need to document by recording or certified mail for them to not call you. If that agency does you can sue them for a small amount per call (I think it is 100.00 each time)
However what these places do is pass it form agency to agency so each time a different agency will call... The best thing to do is to tell them not to call you each time they call and this should stop the calls untill the next agency takes over....

 

[Anthony1971]

P.S.
Do not give an agency ANY information just ask them to not call you period.. By law they can no longer call and most agencies will honor this.

 

[rockyroad]

Those collection people are dirty.

They called my sister and told her that her next door neighbor owed them and for her to go tell them.

Yeah, right.

It really does not do any good to block the number as they will just switch to another number and another and another and another...
Or they will call on a number than cannot be blocked.

 

[MomToOne]

I get collection calls all the time for someone who apparently had my phone number more than 6 years ago. A lot of them. They are a nuisance, but not really much more than that.

The delete button on your answering machine is your friend - the second you figure out it is one of "those" calls, just delete the message.

If you happen to be home when they call, just say "I am not that person and do not know that person. REMOVE MY PHONE NUMBER FROM YOUR CALL LIST AND DATABASE" in your best no-nonsense, business-like voice. Do not answer any other questions or provide them any other information - you do not need to give your name or anything else. They will often be less than polite about it, but they will usually take your phone number off their list. But if they do call again after that (caller id comes in handy here to know it's the same company calling - keep a phone log if you can of who called when, and when you told them to buzz off), then tell them you previously directed them to remove your phone number from their database, and since they have not followed that directive that you will be contacting your state attorney general's office about them.

Just be aware that the debt will just end up sold to yet another agency, and you'll have to do this again when the new agency gets it. But it should at least cut down on the number of calls.

 

[sbsteel]

I think they can do this. I had a similar situation where I was getting calls from debt collectors looking for someone at my neighbor's house. They would call my wife nearly daily, and tell her she had to go next door, and deliver the information. She didn't tell me right away, and when I found out, I went berserk. I called them up, and went up one side and down the other. I then told them that unless they were sending her a check to "work" for them, then she would do no such thing. I also called a lawyer friend. After some research he found that they could indeed call others in an attempt to collect a debt. Well, basically my only option was to call the phone company, and have the number blocked, so they couldn't call into my line anymore. I also, went to the neighbors, and gave them a lecture about paying their bills. Crazy that collection agencies can get away with some of this stuff.

Really? While what happened to you stinks, lecturing your neighbor on something of which you don't know any of the true details is infinitely worse.

 

[Hoodie]

We get this all the time. Apparently the person who had our number before us was delinquent on everything.

Honestly I wish I knew how to contact her because at this point I'd have absolutely NO problem turning her into every debt collector that calls.

 

[Praying Colonel]

They can assume whatever they want, but it's not legally binding on you.

Additionally, Section 809 of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires collectors governed by the Act to follow up in writing with a consumer within 5 days after the initial communication.

FDCPA (PDF reader required)

 

[Jeff_G]

Those collection people are dirty.

They called my sister and told her that her next door neighbor owed them and for her to go tell them.

The FDCPA makes it illegal for a collector divulge that you owe a debt to anyone, it’s a $1,000 fine per instance. the neighbor can file a suit against them in small claim court… If your sister had saved the recording that is all a judge will need to issue a judgment, then you can turn the debt collector over to a debt collector to collect your judgment against them! Lol

There are lawyers out there that will go after these scum bags and can get often bring in the FTC and FCC violations as well.

However for most of us you can ignore the call, or if they continue to call tell them you do not know the person they are looking for and to remove you number from their system. The problem is they will sell that bad debt to the next scum bag and the process will start all over.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

A while back, I got a few calls from a debt collector looking for somebody else. They didn't believe me when I told them I didn't know who that person was. After about the 4th time, I got rude with the guy, gave him some pretty explicit instructions about what he could do. He called back and said something rude, and I said something rude back and hung up. I actually have not heard from them since then.

 

[akcire]

We had debt collectors calling on some old debt from a call center based in India. Keep in mind we have had our home phone number for more than 10 years, so either someone gave out our phone number or this was really old debt. Either way, they were calling my house more than 5 times per day. I finally got an agent to tell me the name of the debt collection company he worked for and where in India he was physically located.

Then I went to the internet and found the US based company that contracted with this Indian based call center. The US based company that was calling me was named First Source Advantage. I found this NY phone number for the company 716-564-4400 and once the receptionist answered the phone I requested the corporate legal department. A very nice lady (who I am assuming was some sort of administrative assistant or paralegal) took my call, and I explained the situation; how both my time and her companies time were being wasted by calling me for someone else's bills. She told me she would put a block on my number so that they no longer made calls to my home in an attempt to collect this debt. Of course, I pointed out that my call constituted "notice" and if the calls did not stop I'd take further action, but the threats were not even necessary. Since then about 12 weeks ago I have not had a call--they ended as abruptly as they began. The only information she needed was my phone number--I also had her debtors name (from the various calls I had received).

So while I am not a fan of debt collectors, nor frankly of deadbeats using my phone number; I will say once I got to the corporate level the employee was very professional and resolved the matter immediately.

 

[ctinct]

The FDCPA makes it illegal for a collector divulge that you owe a debt to anyone, it’s a $1,000 fine per instance. the neighbor can file a suit against them in small claim court… If your sister had saved the recording that is all a judge will need to issue a judgment, then you can turn the debt collector over to a debt collector to collect your judgment against them! Lol

There are lawyers out there that will go after these scum bags and can get often bring in the FTC and FCC violations as well.

However for most of us you can ignore the call, or if they continue to call tell them you do not know the person they are looking for and to remove you number from their system. The problem is they will sell that bad debt to the next scum bag and the process will start all over.

This is what I thought---that it is illegal for them to say that they are looking to collect a debt and divulge the name of the person. I'm just wondering if their "if you do not hang up, you are acknowledging that you are John Smith" lets them off the hook, because while I am not John Smith, I obviously could not hang up since it was my answering machine.

I guess I'll try to investigate where I should complain to--maybe the FTC? The company left their name and phone #, so I do have some info to go on. I realize it's not really my fight, but it just angers me when corporate entities skirt the law.

 

[traces7]

We get these all the time too. If we're home we answer and tell them we're not the person they're looking for, we don't know her, etc. I have gotten pretty irate with them! I also have called them back and they tell us they will take our number off the list. But eventually the calls start coming back. This is really annoying, it's always for the same person. I don't know how they got our phone number. We've had it for 20 years! We have thought about changing our number! We've been getting these calls for more than a year, but they are becoming less frequent. It's interesting to see how others are having the same problem!

 

[christygobar]

Can I add on to this?

What happens if it comes through the mail? We have been receiving letters from a collection agency for a rehab hospital for a gentleman who as far as I know has never lived at this house. (The last owners were here for 8 years and we have been here for 2).

Anytime I receive these letters I write "RETURN TO SENDER, DOES NOT LIVE HERE" and send it back through the mail.

We have continued receiving these for the duration of living in this home. They come through an address with a PO Box.

I once called the hospital about 7 months ago and let them know what was happening. She said it was a collection agency sending the letters and asked me to physically send a written note to the hospital stating that the person does not live at the collection address. I did manage to sit down a couple of weeks later and get this sent to the hospital.

I hadn't received anything in awhile until about 2 weeks ago. I got one that appeared to be handwritten - back from that same PO Box. I also returned to sender with the statement "never lived here."

Do I call the hospital again??

 

[tink2dw]

I moved to a new state. We got a new land line number and the calls stated! 5 different agencies kept calling for about 2 weeks. Even his girlfriend called our new number. That was it!

Dd went on the computer to the National No Call List.gov site and put the new no# on the list. That stopped most of the calls.

When the occasional call still gets thru we disavow any knowledge of the person and tell them our no# is on the NO CALL List and to remove this no# from all their call lists!! And the calls stop, again!!

They know that you can report them and they will be fined $1000. per call if they continue!! This also works if they are calling for you and harassing you about a bill. Or it's a bill you paid in full. But some agency is bogusly calling you to get you to repay the bill again!!

 

[Sølvi]

I had to change my cell phone number a few years ago because of something similar. I had recently changed carriers and received a new number and then almost immediately started getting collection calls for whomever had the number previously. I tried handling it nicely but the calls were so numerous and so persistant that I had to have the number changed.

 

[Lees3rwe]

Evidently, whomever had our phone number before us owed A LOT.
It took about 3 months to get the calls to stop.

 

[brat]

We get those calls often for person who had our number before us.No matter what we say or who we call they keep calling.

Since I have gotten calls on "false-debt" (identity theft) gone to collection in my kids names I do not assume that all of these calls are real collections of debt of the person named.