As U.S. fortunes fade, Pakistani debt collectors dial it up a notch

Los Angeles Times / latimes.com ^ | September 14, 2009 | 5:10 p.m. | By Mark Magnier

[thecodont]

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan - It's 8 o'clock on a Sunday night in the Pakistani capital, but collection cowboy Sharoon Hermoon is living on U.S. time. Headset in place, feet on his desk, he aims his speed dialer at a debtor in Fort Worth, Texas.

"Hello, ma'am, how ya doin' today?" he says in a convincing American accent. "My name is James Harold and you owe us $11,000."

There's a deer-in-the-headlights moment at the other end, then a deep breath, then a torrent of excuses. "I don't know what you're talking about," she says. "It's someone else. My husband's identity was stolen."

After several minutes of runaround, Hermoon hands the phone to his supervisor at the Touchstone call center, Kashif Siddiqui. With years of experience, Siddiqui has heard it all. He's not abusive, but within seconds, he sharply ramps up the pressure.

"So your identity was stolen?" Siddiqui says. "I'll need a police report showing that. And a notarized statement that you never took out the loan. Yes, notarized. We can ring the police station right now on a conference call."

Click.

[thecodont]

Employees of Touchstone call center in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, make calls to customers in the United States. One division is devoted to debt collections; while other employees read a monotonous sales script, they match their wits against evasive debtors.

(Tanveer Shahzad / For The Times / May 5, 2009)

"As Americans struggle under a mountain of debt, they might be surprised to learn that their collection nightmares may originate in a nation better known for its Taliban insurgency, instability and extremism."

[appeal2]

Terrorism by telephone!

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

So the next time one calls you just have the loudest most obnoxious muslim prayer chant raging in the background, tell them to join you in prayer!

[Paladin2]

Threaten to start making payments in pork rinds.

[DesertRhino]

Tell them not to call you back. When they do, they are going to be on the hook for massive fines. Be fun to do it to Haji.

[Drango]

Can they get my facebook page to load quicker and my printer to work?

[2banana]

After the woman from Fort Worth slams down the phone, the Touchstone crew goes to work. Predictably, she doesn't answer their return calls. So in subsequent days they use tracking software and loan document details to generate letters and leave phone messages with neighbors, co-workers and relatives that they're trying to reach her. Finally, a few weeks later, worn down, the woman accepts a repayment plan.

Harassment?

[Moose4]

Potentially. There’s a pretty tight series of rules that debt collectors have to follow; for example, they can’t speak about your case to anyone else, such as a relative. The automated dialers that place a lot of those calls have a computerized blurb at the beginning that says something like “this call is only for Joe Blow, if you are not Mr. Blow please hang up now,” followed by silence, followed by the recording.

A lot of debt collection outfits go way beyond the rules, calling at work, calling before and after hours, calling relatives and friends, calling every few minutes. Mostly, those are the ones that buy up debts for cents on the dollar and then just start shotgunning around trying to intimidate somebody into paying. So if you’re Joe Blow, and some other Joe Blow defaulted on his Macy’s card ten years ago, they may call you and try to threaten you into paying.

}:-)4

[LongElegantLegs]

I got so many calls on my old cell phone# for some Airman that had defaulted on a bunch of debts...I hate bill collectors, they’re such jerks.

[Non-Sequitur]

So the next time one calls you just have the loudest most obnoxious muslim prayer chant raging in the background, tell them to join you in prayer!

No, just explain that you're not about to give the infidel a dime because they charge interest and the Koran forbids the filthy practice.

[gunnut]

Threatening sending someone back to jail is also against collection laws. If the debtor could prove it, the debt could have to be forgiven.

[dragnet2]

collection cowboy Mushroon Hermoon

He's a loser that couldn't make it as a cab driver in Detroit, and was probably deported for overstaying his student visa while majoring in stupidity 101, and is now trying to shake down the broke, for 10 cents on a dollar for a tiny percentage.

There are ways of dealing with people/organizations like this, but unfortunately I can not go into the creative details on this venue.

[Rookie Cookie]

Isnt it great to be in debt and harassed by none other then Pakistani debt collectors after having passed gazillions of dollars to Pakistan for killing more Indians? Poetic justice, the Indians would say.