Harassing calls from a debt collector? Here is what you need to know

If the calls do NOT stop due to your Certified Letter, as required by law, they are supposed to comply;Your next step is one of three options or both.

1 - file a report with your State Attorney General Office
2 - File another complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
3 - Hire an Attorney on a Contingent basis to file a FEDERAL Lawsuit against the Collection Agency.  By retaining an Attorney per Contingency, no fees are paid, unless you win the lawsuit!  A contract is drawn up, at the time of Attorney Retainment specifying the terms, and amounts to be paid the Attorney, usually a percentage.

Go to your States website - check your State's Laws of Civil Procedure, and in there, towards the end, should be what the Law allows Lawyers to collect, based upon the settlement amount.

Again I am not an Attorney, but am telling you what I've learned through fighting 2 Lawsuits on my own, and my own studying of Federal and State Laws.

You can send them a letter requesting they remove your number(s) from their system. Be sure to send Certified mail.  I will attach a sample letter at the bottom of this message.   File a report with FTC.gov,donotcall.gov and FCC.

If they continue to call after the Letter- they are in major violation of Federal Law - hire an Attorney on Contingency and sue them with a Federal Complaint/Lawsuit, as it is Federal Laws they are violating.

And if you really want to feel better - when they call, you can either NOT answer, or answer, with a loud whistle.  Or, for a more civil approach - answer the phone, "you are in violation of Federal Laws, and have been reported, for not removing this phone #"  They will probably hang up before you finish talking.

Your representatives have been trying to contact me, however, I only do business of this nature via mail.  Therefore, I am requesting again that you cease and desist from calling me.  Please remove the phone numbers  _______and _________.  The calls constitute harassment at this point, which is causing a major disruption in both my business and personal life as well as being an invasion of my privacy, which I will not tolerate.

If you continue to contact me, I may file a complaint with the Attorney General.  The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, which branched from United States Code Title 47 sect 227, implemented a do-not-call list from solicitors, which mandates a solicitor to abate phone calls to customers who have requested in writing to cease all phone communication.  Please comply with federal law or a complaint will be filed.

If you have any questions, please contact me at the below mailing location.

Sincerely,

[your name / address]

Good luck to you!!! And I really hope this helps.  A Certified letter with a return signature costs approx. $5.25 - $5.50, but worth it, as you have proof of violation(s).

EVERY IGNORE FRANKLIN!  Just as easy as it was for you to leave a note here Hackers and Scammers are able to do the same.  Anyone listening to these idiots telling you to just pay the bills is a fool.  True collection agencies will gladly send you a statement to your address with all of the account information and contact numbers prior to calling.  If you have/are receiving harrassing calls or threats for collection you need to

1st...obtain a copy of your credit report which is free through Annualcreditreport.com from all 3 agencies.  Not Freecreditreport.com which makes you pay after 30 days trial period. Look over every piece of info including name, occupation, address, ssn#, etc... to verify that it is correct.

2nd...(if it's on your report but fraudulent) contact experian and the company from which the agency is collecting to ensure it is disputed and definitely FILE A POLICE REPORT!  The companies will need a copy of the report or the number with a signed/notarized affidavit stating that it isn't your account.  Go to the Fed Trade Com website at FTC.GOV report id theft, print out complaint and send this with affidavates and any other info to companies.  Never just pay because you want to be left alone.  This will usually suffice and help to be removed from your credit report expeditiously.  

(if yours)check to make sure all usage is yours and not fraudulent, contact companies to set up payment plans and/or reduce interest.  They will gladly work with you if you are having issues paying and need assistance.  Also note that though making the minimum payment may seem like it's only skimming the surface, it will also help to keep debt collectors off of your phones for some time.

3rd...Document all information on who you've spoken with, time, date, company name, etc... Make copies of everything and remain vidulent to ensure that it is taken care of!

Most of us (including me) have gotten ourselves into a lack of funds pickle.
During my crisis, I found something interesting.....whenever i used my phone or got online, immediately after, the collector called me. It's like they have some kind of tracking mechanism to tell when my phone is active.
   Anyway, it's a rotten place to be---especially if you've lost a loved one and are in deep grief. Suddenly you have their leftover bills and then funeral expenses. You may or may not have been able to keep your job, etc. Stuff happens in life and NO ONE is exempt. All you can do is get a friend or work with non-profit agency to help you by listing all debt and begin a schedule of payment. It takes a long time...but it can be done--even if you only pay $20 a month. IT's important to do this before wages are garnished and be sure and pay IRS first...they take what they want, period. The only "losers" in life are the people who call others "losers".

Well, people like me cannot AVOID things like CANCER jerk!!!!  Do you think I asked for it?!?!?  No!!!!  Things like this just happen to good people and DO work 2-3 jobs like me and STILL CONNOT afford to pay them!   Why don't you just ask yourself, what if this was me??  You get cancer at your ripe age, BEFORE you even get the chance to live and your LOADED with cancer bills, and you can't even afford to feed yourself??  What would YOU DO?!?!?!?!  Think about that some.  And see if you can live with yourself?

Is it legal for a collection agency to request sensitive personal information over the phone,i.e. marital status, finacial liablities, income status and source, name of banking institution and account routing number? If it is legal for them to do so, am I obligated to give them this information? They refused to give me the name of the company they worked for or an address to send payment to. They did send me a bill and I made a payment but they still call me several times a day, everyday. When I try to answer the call I either get an automated voice promt to wait for a representative and then it hangs up or I just get a dial tone.
They have verbally accused me of "playing games" (because I wouldn't give a direct answer to my marital status) and being uncooporative and trying to avoid my responsiblities to pay the debt (because I wouldn't give them my checking account routing number over the phone). I have tried twice to make monthly payment offers but they tell me the ammount is not acceptable and name a rediculously high amount that they will accept (which I can not pay). I'm affraid they will take this to court and have my husbands wages garnished if I don't agree to their terms. Do I have grounds to report them for harrassment?
Also, how long does a collection agency have to wait after they send the first bill to take legal action. I sent the payment within 7 days of receiving the bill and it has not yet been a month since that initial payment.
I have so many more questions but this post is getting long so I will stop here.

i have been harassed by this company and have been called and they have been abusive towards me and have made threats to me

What do you do when they call and will not give you any information until you tell them your name, address or verify phone#? I wont give them any info over the phone but they wont talk to you until you do.
Just curious??

I don't understand how you could be held responsible for your mom's bills.  It would have been hers or her estate'd debt.  Stop paying something you have no obligation to pay and seek advice from the nearest Legal Aid office or find a lawyer who gives free consultations. I have  a friend with grown kids and she will owe the hospital a fortune for the rest of her life.  She won't be able to pay it off in her lifetime.  She's on a fixed income.  When she goes, her family cannot be made to pay her debts.  I hope you weren't pressured by the hospital your mother was at, to assume responsibility for the bills.  If so, you may want to say you were pressured---against your will, etc.  I am sorry for your loss, but please think of your financial well-being now.  A hospital cannot make a deceased person's (grown) kids pay his/her debt.  All they can do is file a claim against the person's estate.

Laura, think about filing for medical bankruptcy.  That would wipe out the bills catastrophe.  You sound like a good upright person, but you need to think of yourself first and take care of yourself before trying to satisfy cresitors.  Don't ever go hungry to satisfy creditors.

To the person who says "just pay your debt, don't spend so much time on the internet trying to find ways not to pay what you owe", I say this to YOU. This past May I had a grand-mal seizure at work where I was WORKING to pay MY DEBT. I left in an ambulance and was diagnosed with epilepsy which put me out of work for 2.5 months. One month to the day after I came back to work (while never asking for assistance from anyone), my husband was found to have a 5 inch deep, 3 inch wide cancerous tumor in his knee cap which had to be removed. That left him with 95 stitches. He only took 2 months off work because we were behind from me being out of work. Now from so much pressure being put on his other knee, he's ripped his ACL in his "good" knee that will require at least 2 surgeries with a 6-8 week recovery period. We're also aware that this stress could easily bring about another seizure for me. So before you act so holier than thou, I pray that you and your family never have to deal with anything myself, or many of the other people on this forum have dealt with. And just so you know, we've STILL never asked for help, just so heartless people like you can never say your tax dollars helped out us. Read your bible, feel some empathy for people goign through tough times. I just pray that you never know how it is to have to dodge creditors truly because you don't have the money, or explain to your daughter why she got one birthday present and no party. And for the remark that we're on the computer trying to find ways to dodge creditors, what are you on here for? To troll for people you can down grade and make feel worse than they already do? My husband works his fingers to the bone (yes, he's a blue collar man, and I'm so proud of him). It's easy to point fingers sitting in your air conditioned office without a care in the world. Shame on you for that post, I only hope you are never in our shoes, but that was such a nasty thing to say. God bless you and I pray you help others rather than condemn them in the future.

Honestly - I ahve had debt issues in the past - and most people probably do plan on paying their debt - BUT - if someone runs up a STUPID bill and then does not pay it - wastes money when they do not have it to waste - or finds themselves in debt - but do NOTHING to try to fix the situation - THe fact IS - they DO need to pay a legitimate debt - OR make arrangements concerning that debt - not WHINE about not having family to pick up the slack. Thinks happen - and people find themselves financially hurting - illness, divorce, etc - BUT, that does not mean you can just ignore the debt.

That sux about the sister's situation - BUT - she needs to either get it together or get someone to help her get it together...  She needs to get help in making payment arrangements on legitimate expenses - and help getting rid of the ones that are rediculous - such as medical bills that were possibly bogus...

Owning money against legitimate bills is what it is... Ignoring will not fix it - lessen her stress or bring her child back...

Maybe YOU need to help your sister....

NEVER sign anything for your parents -  like medical bill papers - nursing home papers - etc - then you become responsible...
My cousin signed something for her mother when she went into a nursing home - and NOW she is stuck paying them every month - Her mom has been dead 8 years now...  On the up side - she pays $10 a month - which is enough to keep it off her credit report - and the nursing home sends her a bill - so this means - they are wasting that $10 on postage, paper, printer ink and the time it takes to process the payment and bills by a human...
Cousin should not have to be responsible - but she made a mistake and is now stuck with the deceased mother's bill.

SSeriously Fed-Up - you need to get the name, number, address etc- so you can "make a payment". You need to record the calls if you can and allowed in the state - OR - make a list of times, dates, etc - what was said - then see ifyou can fry the bad tards