i have an old State Police whistle next to the phone for pesky callers...
Posted on 09/04/2011 6:31:38 PM PDT by Graybeard58
There may be only one thing worse than getting called by a debt collector: getting called by mistake.
These days, more and more people report getting "robo-dialed" by debt collectors looking for people with similar names, similar phone listings, similar addresses.
The calls come several times a week, often at odd hours, sometimes apparently from overseas call centers. It's annoying, irritating and -- when a collection call jolts you awake late at night -- sometimes downright frightening.
Take Ted Gibson, a retired government economist in Sacramento, Calif. He's listed as "T. Gibson" by the phone company, which means he's frequently called by collectors looking for folks with similar initials.
Although he says he and his wife pay off their bills, do not run up credit-card charges and have clean credit histories, "we receive five to six calls a week from various collection outfits who have apparently obtained a list of phone numbers and feel they can dial at will."
In the last 18 months, they've received collection calls for a variety of other Gibsons whose first names start with "T." Many of these other Gibsons, he says, appear to have multiple outstanding debts, "so there are a least a dozen different bill collectors hounding us night and day."
State and federal officials say debt collection calls — including those to the wrong person -- are increasing and are "a serious consumer protection problem." Last year, the Federal Trade Commission logged 140,000 complaints about debt collectors, everything from calling the wrong person to leaving threatening messages.
In some cases, the erroneous calls are simple cases of mistaken identity. Others may be legitimate attempts by debt collector trolling through phone listings trying to find a match.
Or they could be fraud, attempts to wrestle money from financially vulnerable victims.
Debt collection fraud has "always been there ... but it seems like it's hot right now," said Joanne McNabb, chief of the California Office of Privacy Protection.
"People may be more susceptible to a debt collection scam because -- in this economy -- they have debts. Scammers are taking advantage of people's concerns."
How to protect yourself?
First, don't hang up. Ask for the person's name and their company's name. Ask that you be given written verification of the debt. (It could be the debt is yours, but one you've forgotten.)
"If they're making threats or asking for personal information, it's a sign they're a scam," McNabb said.
Before telling them "never, ever call me again," try getting some information. "Sometimes there's some value in talking with them," said Tom Pahl, assistant director of the FTC's consumer protection branch.
By law, debt collection callers must send you a written confirmation within five days that states the creditor's name, the amount owed and procedures for disputing the debt. After you get that verification notice, you should respond -- in writing -- within 30 days.
"If it's obviously not you -- you've never had a Sears card or you were in Iraq or it's a different middle initial --- you can report that back in writing," Pahl said. "The collector might take you out of their calling system."
You can also tell them you want the calls to cease. (They're allowed to make one more contact, either to confirm they won't make further contact or to announce further action, such as taking you to court.)
Many people think they're safe from debt callers if they've signed up for the federal Do Not Call list. But that bars only telemarketers, not debt collectors, McNabb said.
If you're harassed by too many errant debt-collection calls, the state's privacy chief recommends calling your phone company and requesting that your number be unlisted. It may not make the problem go away immediately or completely, but it's a start.
"If you have caller ID, get the phone number of who's making the call. Report it to your phone company, which will investigate," McNabb said.
Part of the problem, said the FTC's Pahl, is that many debt collectors buy bundled packages of old debts. If you've complained but they haven't "scrubbed" your number out of their system, it can get passed along every time a new debt collector takes up the package.
"The more difficult you can make it, the better," Pahl said. "Collectors will make an assessment whether it's worth trying to continue finding you."
Some collectors try to intimidate consumers into paying debts they don't actually owe. Don't fall for it, say state and federal officials.
If a debt is too old -- typically three to six years for credit card debts in most states, for instance -- it's beyond the statute of limitations for collection. But a collection agency can still try to collect from you.
"It's extremely confusing," said the FTC's Pahl. After a certain time, "You can't be sued, but they can still call you to collect on it. And if you do make a payment, the debt becomes live all over again."
It happens. Pahl said he's heard from people who paid collectors $200 for accounts that weren't legally valid, "just to make them stop calling."
Officials admit there's no easy solution to stopping mistaken debtor calls.
For Gibson, it's been a constant headache. He's got an unlisted phone number, is on Do Not Call lists and did file a police report, at the suggestion of his phone company. But nothing's changed.
"It's irritating. It's frustrating. ... It's a real disadvantage to have a common name."
So Gibson has devised perhaps the only foolproof solution: When the phone rings, he doesn't answer it.
i have an old State Police whistle next to the phone for pesky callers...
Baloney.
And robo calls are illegal. Phone company and the government don't care & won't do anything about robo calls. How many of you get daily robo calls from the credit card scammers with spoofed exchange numbers? Like ???-000-????
Get caller ID and don't answer the phone if you don't know them. Turn off your ringer at night.
Another fun thing you can do with bill collectors ( I did it to one). Get their information & a supervisor's name (including a mailing address). Send a FedEx letter to the super stating that you charge $50 an hour consulting fee, billed in 1/2 hour increments. Each call will result in a $25 charge for which you will invoice them (again by FedEx letter). State that if the invoice is not paid in 30 days you will turn them over to collection.
I had one outfit threatening to trash my credit and sue me for a bill that they had no proof of (because I paid the doctor at the time of the visit). They mysteriously stopped sending me letters. I keep it all in a file waiting for them to try it again.
Some times they lied and i would turn it over to legal. Then were taken to court.
I never had to be mean or rude to poeple that were trying to do the right thing, only the peop;le that tried to get out of legitimate debts they didn't feel like paying.
The hones people always wanted to pay off the debts and would bend over backwards for you. So I bent over backwards for them.
There is always at least two sides to every story.
In Soviet Russia, DEBT COLLECTS YOU!
Lee Morrison is the name of MY deadbeat. Sometimes the collector refuses to believe me, because I have the same initials (LM) as he has, and we were born on the same month and year. Our social security number is only three digits off, too. Blast the luck!
My BIL has two adult sons that are deadbeats. Collectors call him all the time looking for them.
He got a recorder and made up a voice menu that goes on and on and on & plays it whenever a collector calls. Keeps them on the phone for a long time and then finally has a step that requests they punch in the extension of the person they want. Then about 5-10 seconds after they haven’t entered it, the recording says “sorry, goodbye”.
He says it is hysterical listening to them entering all these numbers to a phony voice menu only to get cut off.
That’s what it took to get one off my case. Someone with my name had a bill from a store I had a credit card from that I had never used. First time I heard from them, they called me at work and were pretty obnoxious. I raced home thinking it was stolen. It was here. Called them back, they accused me of lying until I asked for the SSN they were looking for. Sure enough, wasn’t mine. Never heard from them again. Needless to say, I cancelled that card right now.
That’s the guy from Nigeria who’s trying to reach you to pay you your share of Sixty Million ($60,000,000.00) Dollars.
LOL. Yeah, I’ve been waiting for him to make the deposit ever since I gave him my account number.
Lol!
THANK YOU!
Guys there is an easy way to stop the robo calling.
Step one, get a recording device
Step two, call a disconnected number and record the tone that is played. You only need the tone and none of the rest of the message.
Step three, record a new voice mail greeting by first playing the tone back into the recording pause for a second and then leave your voice mail greeting.
Step four, let these calls go to voice mail
The tone that is played tell the robo call computer that this number is disconnected and is no longer in service. Rather than continue to make calls, the robo will make one more call at a later date and if they get the same tone, will automatically remove your number from the list.
Works every time.
My mortgage once got sold to the rotten GMAC Mortgage company. They took out policies with their own insurance company for everthing they could think of and then started over again.
The house is on one lot and there is a second lot under the same mortgage. The street name had also been changed by the county. I got bills for rental insurance since the mailing address was slightly different from the original mortgage address. It took a month to clear it up. Then I got two insurance rental insurance bills with my mortgage because of the other lot. Another month to clear it up. Then I got two bills for flood insurance even though a structure is only on one lot and that is at 8,500 ft elevation on a mountain ridge.Then it was the rental insurance bill, then the two rental insurance bills and again the flood insurnce bills.
You have to pay and then try to straighten it out later with incompetent high-school emploees. I got fed up and refinanced to get rid of 0bamas favorite corruption corp - GMAC.
My mortgage once got sold to the rotten GMAC Mortgage company. They took out policies with their own insurance company for everthing they could think of and then started over again.
The house is on one lot and there is a second lot under the same mortgage. The street name had also been changed by the county. I got bills for rental insurance since the mailing address was slightly different from the original mortgage address. It took a month to clear it up. Then I got two insurance rental insurance bills with my mortgage because of the other lot. Another month to clear it up. Then I got two bills for flood insurance even though a structure is only on one lot and that is at 8,500 ft elevation on a mountain ridge.Then it was the rental insurance bill, then the two rental insurance bills and again the flood insurnce bills.
You have to pay and then try to straighten it out later with incompetent high-school emploees. I got fed up and refinanced to get rid of 0bamas favorite corruption corp - GMAC.
Googlevoice allows individual blocking of unwanted callers. It also logs caller ID of hangups, so it is easy to see how many times a certain number called. Also time and date of those calls.
I started using googlevoice just out of curiosity, but am using it as my main phone number now.
If GV can do this, every phone company in the country can do it as well.
I just moved out of Texas after living there for three years. I got collection agency calls all the time, for Deborah or Bobby Sanders (maybe Saunders). Sometimes, I would tell them that no one by that name lived there; usually, I just wouldn’t answer the phone.
Once, there was a bill for some service that I had not ordered included on my phone bill. I called AT&T about it; they couldn’t do anything about the charge, but they can block third party billing. I then called the company whose service I had not ordered and found out that Deborah Sa(u)nders had ordered the service. They removed the charge.
I highly suspect that Debbie Sa(u)nders had the phone number before I did.
I also received calls trying to collect from someone with my last name, but not nearly as often.
In any case, I’ll never again get a listed phone number.
They never get past my answering machine. If it’s someone that we know, they will leave a message. The only ones that do not leave a message are sales, bill collectors, poll takers, and relatives that want money.
I have my VOIP with these people:
Allows me to selectively block 99 different numbers. Callers get a “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable” message.
I suggested to tech support that they allow us to use wild cards in the blocked number list, thus killing all of the spoofed numbers with 000 exchanges. I’m hoping they implement that.
I’ve been getting these calls about once a week for the last 6 months. I’m normally at work at the time and it’s a robo-call recording so there is no one to yell at anyhow. They are looking for my worthless step-brother and I have no idea where he is. I guess they flagged me as next of kin using lexis-nexis or similar. I’ve been meaning to have one of the lawyers I work with call them and tell them to stop but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
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