866-285-0857

This is NCO financial.  They are a debt collector, they will call you from like 10 million different numbers, and usually they never call from the same number twice.

Called the number back.  It is NCO financial.  Looking for wrong person.  They said they would take my number off their call list.  We'll see what happens.

These people called my mother-in-law asking for my sister.  My sister never has even resided with my mother-in-law and even has a totally different last name.  They asked my mother-in-law if she knew my sister and if she could give them a telephone number for my sister.  Obviously, she didn't give them anything.

They call and call and call. They will not remove your number from their list.

Keep calling my cell phone every hour!  Very annoying!

would not tell me anything. looking for my deceased son. how disgusting. what creeps. I told the man he was dead and he insisted on giving me this phone number.  I guess I can take it to my sons grave site

They called looking for my deceased husband.  When I told them he was deceased, they replied "I know he's hiding, he needs to step up and deal with this."  [***]!!!

NCO's collector's comment was illegal, unwarranted, uncalled for and WAY out of line.

NCO is no stranger to courtrooms due to their obnoxious and unlawful behavior and another lawsuit certainly won't hurt.

You come home one day and find a letter, asking you to pay your recently deceased spouse’s $400 credit card bill. Soon after, you start receiving collection calls. What should you do? Are you responsible for paying the bill?

It is not uncommon for creditors to turn to relatives for collection after a person dies. In some cases, they may be legally on the hook for the debt. However, often times, they are not. Knowing the law can help you handle bill collectors without being bullied into unnecessary payment.

When dealing with the debt of a deceased person, the first thing you want to consider is if anyone else’s name on the account. Each account holder can be held legally responsible for the outstanding balance, regardless of who used the account or whatever agreement the account holders had on who would pay the bill. Taking the example above, let’s say the credit card was a joint account, owned by your spouse and you. He was the only one who used the card and made the payments. You simply co-signed on the application because he had a low credit score. Unfortunately, since your name is on the account, you are still on the hook for the outstanding balance. This rule only applies to co-signers, not authorized users, who are not legally obligated to repay the debt. (However, you can be held responsible for charges you make after the death of the primary account holder, so don’t buy a $3,000 television with the card thinking you can get it for free.)

In most states, relatives whose names are not on the account cannot be held personally responsible for a deceased person’s debt. In community property states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin), spouses may be responsible for paying the debt, even if their name is not in the account. If you live in one of these states, it is a good idea to talk to a lawyer about what your obligations are.

Even if you are not obligated to pay a creditor out of your own pocket, that does not necessarily mean you can tell them, “Tough luck. You are not getting a penny.” Obviously, the creditor cannot collect directly from a borrower who is not alive, but they are entitled to collect from his or her estate, meaning they can take from assets before they are passed on to heirs (although certain assets, such as retirement funds and life insurance, may be exempt). For example, if your father left you the $10,000 in his savings account and had a $3,000 loan outstanding at the time of his death, the lender would get $3,000, and you would get $7,000. However, if there are not enough assets to cover the bills, then some creditors are simply out of luck – they cannot collect money the estate does not have.

It is the role of the executor of the estate to pay the deceased person’s outstanding bills. If you are the executor, you may want to consult with a lawyer about your state’s probate process and laws. There may be specific regulations on the order that the debts should be paid.

If you are not the executor of the estate but are receiving phone calls and/or letters asking you to pay, you should refer the creditor to the executor. If they are persistent, send a certified letter stating that the person is deceased and you are not responsible for paying the debt. Don’t let yourself be intimidated into paying a debt you are not responsible for. If the bill collector is making claims you don’t believe are true, such as saying you are a co-signer on the account, ask for proof. Let them know you are aware of your rights and will report them if they do not stop calling you. Harassing bill collectors can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission (877-382-4357) and state attorney general’s office. (They investigate patterns of complaints but typically do not intervene in individual cases.) If the collection activity still does not stop, you may want to hire an attorney to send them a letter and, if needed, take additional legal action.

While you may inherit Great Aunt Suzy’s doll collection or Grandma Jane’s floral sofa, luckily, in most cases, you won’t inherit your relatives’ debt.

http://www.balancepro.net/education/publications/debtafterdeath.html

Thank You Alfalfa.
Very informative.

You are welcomed.

Alfalfa, you must be a people's representative (my nice terminology for lawyer).  Am wondering if you or anyone out there can offer suggestion to my dilema.  My mom got a call today from this NCO saying they "needed more information" for her account.  She handed me the phone and I asked who was calling and confirmed they were with NCO.  I asked her for the nature of this call to my sick mother who  has been hospitalized for the past 6 weeks.  She said they were attempting to collect a debt from Capital One.  My mom was the victim of identity theft and I have paid an attorney several thousand dollars to try to clear her name every time a new debt collection agency buys the bundled debt.  I even had her name legally changed at the local courthouse (costing more $).  Her cell phone is in my name (excellent credit and different from her name) so none of her new personal data is out there in cyberspace, at least that I'm aware.  I have not pulled a recent credit report but will do that also in case there is an entry showing her new name but I seriously doubt it.  We are at a loss as to how they got her new cell # and new name.  I called the cell phone company providing the service and they, too, are bumfuzzled. I'm very skeptical of posting on this sort of site.  For all I know they could be monitoring this site to glean information.  They seem to be well trained at what they do (in additional to annoying people very, very well!).  Suggestions are most welcome on how they got her cell # and how I can make them stop before she has another heat attack.  Can they access public courthouse records (although her cell # was not provided to them)?  Thoughts?  Thanks in advance!   Blessings from Bumfuzzled...

just want the calls to stop

Sunday afternoon 3/20/11 got a call from this number asking for someone that sounded like Ingrid. (It's not the guy people usually call for who had my number 2 years ago.) Told them they had the wrong number, and then the woman said "this call may be monitored." Four days ago on the 16th of March I had a call from another number identified on this site as NCO but I didn't pick up and they didn't leave a message.

just got my new phone and number a month ago and they keep on calling. I don't even know these numbers!

Thank you to whoever took the time to explain this! What a thoughtful person you are. You seem to know a lot about the law, so I'm guessing you are a lawyer. I'm going to assume that you are. That makes you not only thoughtful, but also unique! Thanks for being what most are not.

called my phone, probably NCO

This number called my cell phone asking for my estranged sister. I haven't seen or heard from my sister in 3 years, so I told them they had the wrong number. How did they even get my cell number? Hopefully I don't get any more phone calls of this type.

Calls constantly, no one ever there, hangs up as soon as I answer.

Just received a telephone call from this number, an indian man, telling me my computer had been hacked, "information" from Microsoft.  I told the caller I did not want to speak from someone from India representing Microsoft and a few other choice words.  I had the feeling he wanted to get into my computer.