help is this a scam

[little pixie]

I got a call like this, not about a DL, but a CC that my DH has.

The guy was insistent that I give him a post dated check by Friday. I told him since he was calling for DH, I would have HIM take care of it, even though he had asked me to, and asked if I was authorized on the account. (Um, wouldn't you know that?)

So, I told DH about it, and how the guy said it was late, etc. He told me he had paid it just last month, and there was no way it was past due the way they said it was.

He also gave me a 1-800 number to call back, with an extension.

Dh took care of it through the company the card was with, not by calling the 1-800 number.

Was THIS a scam? Why would he insist that I pay with a post dated check over the phone?

 

[trulygoofy]

We don't have any financial problems so I don't know why they would be calling us. I guess I will wait and see if they call again. My husband is a lawyer, so if they call again maybe I will threaten "them" with a lawsuit! Ha Ha

We don't either, but we have a common last name and get all sorts of calls for other people's debts. Often the last name is the same, but the first name just starts with the same letter as one of our first names. I think collection agencies don't care who they get the money from as long as they get it, and they don't care who they bother in the process. I worry that older people probably get taken all the time from "legitimate" collection agencies.

 

[jennifer293]

He could have debt he doesn't remember from way back...when we were buying our first home I was contacted at the bank I worked at telling me they could not process our loan because my DH had something unpaid on his credit report...When we got to looking at it we found out that when he was in college in 1992 he joined a fraternity and never paid his dues of $100.00, so we had to get that taken care of...We bought the house in 1999..

 

[horseshowmom]

We don't either, but we have a common last name and get all sorts of calls for other people's debts. Often the last name is the same, but the first name just starts with the same letter as one of our first names. I think collection agencies don't care who they get the money from as long as they get it, and they don't care who they bother in the process. I worry that older people probably get taken all the time from "legitimate" collection agencies.

We also got a lot of calls for quite awhile from collection agencies looking for someone with the same first and last name as my husband (just a different middle name).

 

[horseshowmom]

He could have debt he doesn't remember from way back...when we were buying our first home I was contacted at the bank I worked at telling me they could not process our loan because my DH had something unpaid on his credit report...When we got to looking at it we found out that when he was in college in 1992 he joined a fraternity and never paid his dues of $100.00, so we had to get that taken care of...We bought the house in 1999..

That is amazing! I guess that fraternity was pretty serious, huh?

 

[dis-happy]

Does your dh travel often for work? Mine does, and a couple of months ago we had an interesting thing happen. He rented a car as usual. Drove it in the Baltimore/DC area, as usual. Received a parking ticket from the state of MA in the mail! The parking enforcement person had dated the ticket, copied down the car license plate, and Hertz matched it and sent it to my DH. He had to contest it and the state of MA finally dropped it (obviously the plate number was incorrect). But if it had been in PA instead of MA (easy driving distance from where he was) it could have been a lot more difficult to clear. Anyway, it's possible that something similar happened to your dh when travelling, he never got notification, and now the collection agency has it. Good luck.

 

[floridafam]

I hope you get to the bottom of this.

I can't believe his mom opened a credit card in his name.

Just don't give them any personal info over the phone.

There is a person with almost the same name as my DH's in Michigan. He has been in jail and skipped out on hospital bills. We've gotten a few bills and I always have to call and straighten it out.

Sometimes they do a skip trace on people and just grab the first name that is close to what they are looking for and send the bill.

Let us know how this all turns out.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

We also got a lot of calls for quite awhile from collection agencies looking for someone with the same first and last name as my husband (just a different middle name).

This happened to us to. A lot of old debts are sold so often to collections agencies that when it gets to the bottom of the barrel those people will do anything to collect money. I had one agency call and try and strongarm me into paying off a debt I didn't even know was ours. After I questioned her enough I found out the middle initial and spelling of my husband's first name was different. That one was about an overdrafted bank account but we've also gotten calls on auto loans and a credit card. I'd still pull your credit report but it sounds like a fishing expedition to me.

 

[TALB]

thanks everyone! my husband called them this morning and it was the same name, but not him! thank goodness, I was worried all night about this messing up our home loan this summer! I do think I am going to do a free credit check to make sure things are in order before we apply for a home loan. You guys are the best. Thank you for all of the great info.

 

[LadyShiva]

We've gotten calls from collection agencies over just a phone number that some guy listed somewhere that happened to be our phone number now. Cops have even called the house looking for this guy.

Just pull a credit report for hubby and make sure it is all good. You need to do that months before applying for a home mortgage anyway. Then you go into the loan office knowing exactly how good (or bad) your credit is, and therefore won't get snowed into a bad loan, or a loan for someone with worse credit than you actually have.

Brandie