Posted on 01/15/2009 10:23:34 AM PST by Puppage
A New York couple is haunted by calls from credit agencies wanting to collect debt their dead son owed.
Roco and Laurie Crimeni's 27-year-old son Vincent collapsed and died nearly a year ago of a sudden heart attack while he was playing softball.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I have been getting calls almost every night from collection agencies asking for me by name. Since I’m not behind on anything I keep trying to tell them that there are three people with my name in our town and they have the wrong one.
The last one wanted me to tell them my SSN to confirm I was who I said I was. My response back was not meant for children’s ears, I can assure you.
I guess we have outsourced our collection calling overseas, not a single one of them spoke English as their first language. There is nothing quite as annoying as arguing with Apoo over your identity...
I answer the phone every time it rings, and answer with "This is John". If I don't want to talk to someone, I can just hang up. I never saw the point in hiding or running away.
/johnny
collection agencies intentionally obscure their caller ID signature.
They seek out “out of area” or obscure designations.
(ie, ABC inc.)
Believe it or not, there are still some rotary phones in use. My husband’s widowed aunt has one - we made sure she wasn’t still RENTING it! No caller-id and no answering machine.
BTW the newest thing is FAKE bad credit which was sold to collection agencies.
It is like home mortgage notes that appear in multiple bundles.
This bad debt stuff is just the tip of the iceberg.
I think the only real way to deal with this bad debt is to write it off entirely.
(I also think collection agencies have to disclose how much they paid for the debt and all collection efforts have to abide by the fair debt laws not just collection agencies)
“Inform the creditors to NEVER call again, and tell them you will be filing a complaint with the state AG.”
I would lean toward finding out where they lived and beating the crap out of them...
First tell them to never call again and if they do you will sue them for $50,000,000.00 which should be a small amount for what they are doing as they are in violation of federal law. Unless the parents cosigned the debt. I assume they did not.
I guess I agree, but I have never had to deal with one before. I’ve heard the horror stories, but since they are calling (I think) anyone in the phone book with my name to track someone down it’s a minor annoyance to me. I’d handle it differently if I was the one who owed.
It would be an interesting day on Wall Street if they wrote off all bad debt at once, an interesting day indeed.
AND here is the kicker...
the debtors have to affirmativly seek out the estate to make their claim on the estate.
That costs money.
Many of these collection agencies are just harrasment tigers. only bark no bite.
Most states have a one year statute of limiation on estates in order to preserve finality.
If a debt is not claime and probated it is easily time barred. UNLESSS the collection agency finds a person ignorant of their rights and has the “target” assume the other person’s debt.
The damages are fixed by law in the fair debt collection laws. ($1000.00)
This is why they work ACROSS state lines and are constantly changing names.
An aggressive creditor WILL track down family members and harrass them, legal or not. One of my brother-in-law’s creditors called my husband 2 years ago and were on the verge of getting shi++y toward my husband about his brother’s debts, but I think they wisely noted a tone in my husband’s voice which let them know he was NOT an idiot and would go off on them in a heartbeat. He politely verified his brother’s phone number and took a message to relay to his brother (who they claimed to have called repeatedly and were unable to reach).
Good for your hubby.
Are these ‘rent to own’ type collections?
Yes, I get letters and calls about CC I never had. Interesting thing is they claim the bill was $4,123 and has grown to $14,567 with lawyer fees, but will settle for $5,000.
How can I pass up a deal like that?
I have repeatedly had collectors calling my work asking for various persons;they are not supposed to call the debtor's employer;and having several callers ask for the same person after the first was told NOT to call,is annoying.
A pox on these collector callers.
If the greedy businesses didn't promote loose credit they might not need so many collectors.Constantly promoting the purchase on credit of big ticket items by small income people is the root cause.
A few years back, a hospital in Florida sent some mensa to our home to collect a debt from my wife, who they assumed to be a person who owed them money.
My wife’s name is Lisa (lastname). The person they were looking for was named MonaLisa (same lastname).
The retard knocked on our door with a gift package in his hand, asking for MonaLisa (same lastname). Not really lisenting, I summoned my wife.
When she came to the door, Retard gave her the package and walked off. Inside was a notice of collection of a debt from the hospital. Before he got back to his car, I caught up with Retard and gave the package back to him, telling him he had the wrong person.
Two months later, Retard came back and tried the same schtick. I told him to get lost. Haven’t seen him since.
Yeah, well, that happens.
I’ve got to pay off the debts
that my mother left.
_______
If she left an estate behind, as I understand it, you are correct. This young man, however, had no estate, so there was nothing in his name from which to pay the creditors.
Very different situations - again, as I understand the laws here in Maryland. Just went through this with my dad in June 08. The vendors can sniff through probate all they want, but he left nothing behind in his name.
They might also have made the mistake of sending a check in to his creditors to help pay them while he was alive.
Conversely, they might have the parents’ contact information if he lived there while accruing his debts.
I’m leaning towards one of your explanations more than anything else I’ve read on this thread.
Interesting, thanks.
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