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

I guess the only thing this long thread is now good for is attaching blind replies to everything on its first page, written a whole decade ago by people who will never respond or might even be dead. In fact, "Chris in Los Angeles" made only another curt statement supporting the "pay the creditor" fallacy, which I took apart yesterday.

The schemes you're describing don't really fit the topic here, collection of conventional consumer debt. Tax debt does not derive from a contract, and the "student loan assistance" calls could be a sly way to sell a loan as much as bogus collection. In both cases these fakers were probably in South Asia, and possibly the same crew making both call types. As to why you attract these fiends, they all traffic in any personal information they can buy or steal about us. Possibly your financial struggles are reflected in your credit reports, the purchases you make, the place you live, and so on. The fraud callers play a numbers game, guessing that you need what they're selling or can be fooled into paying false debt.

} They cannot call you several times a day.  It is considered a form of harassment.
Four months ago and on the same page as your reply to Jennifer, I responded to someone else responding to Jennifer. One more time, what the FDCPA says of repeated contact is not specific. When tested, what's "considered harassment" can vary wildly among judges, and even in rulings from the same judge. Many of those county and Superior judges used to be lawyers, and can become entirely too friendly with the lawyers for banks and collectors who bring in most of the courthouse revenue.

I'm not telling anyone to drop a claim which you think is in the right. I do warn that not everyone in the room will agree with the intent and correct reading of the FDCPA.

} letter via certified mail stating you do not want to be called numerous times a day, ... and how many calls they can make.
I agree with the Cert Mail and the option to set specific rules for contact, which many people miss in the law. However, I'm pretty sure the consumer has no absolute control over the daily call count, only inconvenient times and places. Yeah, you can ask for twice a day, but why would anyone do that if a collector was previously willing to call six and nine and fifteen times daily? The natural impulse is to ban all calls or at least rope off given hours and days.

I'll toss in here that partial phone bans have been (unintentionally) very useful to me when spanking bad agencies in court. I've found collection agencies on the whole don't respond well to anything but an all-or-nothing use of their autodialers, and some are prone to ignore all instructions and keep dialing any old time they please.

} Do not confirm the debt over the phone as this can start the time for collecting a debt all over again.  Check your state regulations on how long they can collect a debt for.
You're thinking of statutes of limitations. In 48 states those do not control "collecting a debt". They set a "sue by" date only. Collection activity can typically go on for decades. Doing so with the help of a lawyer and a judge is what's limited. Mere verbal acknowledgement is not supposed to reset any SoL, but there again has been a history of bad judges who see all debt defendants as losers before they arrive to hearings.

I have a debt collector calling me continuously.  He'll call and when it rolls to voicemail, he'll hang up and call again and repeat.  After 4th call, he'll leave a message.  He calls during my WORK hours.   When I don't get back to them quickly enough, they'll call my children, and on Friday. . . this [***] called my PARENTS!  They're 84 and 88 years old and have no business knowing that some creep is calling.  When I got the loan, i DID NOT put any of them down as references.  Is it LEGAL to call my parents and my children and even my EX-HUSBAND???????  This guy gives me "creepy stalker dude" vibe and when asked to keep the call short, he talks continuously and down to me.    I get a slimy pedifile vibe

what do you do when a collection agency keeps calling your work when you tell them not to call at work?

Nope, you can ask them not to call during those times, or get their address and certified return receipt a letter demanding they stop all phone contact.

I paid a collection company $350 for  a bill ti Verizon that was $525 ~ collection company said they would accept that as payment in full and sent me a letter stating that EXACTLY...... Verizon contacted me and said I owed them $175 because they never agreed to ANYTHING.. Sent them the letter showing their collection agency accepted payment in FULL. They reported to ALL credit agencies a $175 CHARGE-OFF that I can't get removed. DO NOT BELIEVE YOU CAN SETTLE FOR LESS WITH COLLECTION COMPANIES.................

Love your idea.

Uh-huh, the well-worn "tell them you're recording" gambit. I'm sure "DD" would be flattered by a compliment arriving 10.5 years later. Maybe "DD" will happen to see it in the year 2029.

Anyway, this so-called strategy does nothing to preserve your rights, does not prevent future contact, and does not forestall a creditor lawsuit. There is faint victory in a debt collector being chased away by a recording announcement. You get nothing to use against the agency, and that agency gets to keep trying to take your money. You want to record, press the red button and shut up. Let the collectors dig their own pit traps, so to speak.

Yes, I've been over Jennifer's problem thoroughly since January, and 67 other people have taken their cracks in the past decade.
https://800notes.com/arts/harassing-calls-fro ... 451698567833287
https://800notes.com/arts/harassing-calls-fro ... 773963179839972

} Verizon contacted me and said I owed them $175 because they never agreed to ANYTHING

Everything taken as true, Verizon accepted the $350 from its hired agency and then turned around to "balance bill" you like some doctor's office. Either they trust the third party collector to represent Verizon's interests or they don't. Verizon can't have it both ways, and their dispute (if any) is with the agency and not you.

Sadly you'll most likely have to launch a FCRA dispute process and/or lawsuit to correct the credit reports. That's where you'll discover whether Verizon made a dumb mistake or was being vindictive in parking a bad trade line.

} what do you do when a collection agency keeps calling your work when you tell them not to

Get a civil complaint drafted and send the offender a copy with notice of intent to sue. If the company won't settle, file the lawsuit and demand double the pre-suit offer. Respond to all dismissal motions, don't make make their counsel's job too easy. This assumes you have a domestic agency location to target, and not merely some secretive wage slaves in South Asia. Your case will be stronger if you can prove that you issued the "shut up", better still if it's in print.

The FDCPA authors went out of their way to shelter people at their workplaces. See §1692c(a)(3). Your collectors broke the law. Now they should pay you for the pattern of disturbance.

FDCPA § 1692c. Communication in connection with debt collection

} he'll hang up and call again and repeat. .... Is it LEGAL to call my parents and my children and even my EX-HUSBAND?

Debt collectors are allowed some limited skip tracing through relatives, friends, and neighbors. They're supposed to get one chat with each and move on until you the alleged consumer debtor (ACD) are located. In practice, dirty debt collectors abuse this FDCPA allowance and may work the chain in reverse. Knowing from the start exactly where the ACD lives and how to make contact, they hassle everyone else and Uncle Pat's pet panda to apply pressure on the ACD to (supposedly) come out of hiding with an open wallet. Elderly parents are good for false shame, ex-spouses can be mined for unresolved animosity. The collector hopes to use these people and more as psychological weapons.

Given that the agent was once "asked to keep the call short", you two have already held a conversation. Therefore he has no need to keep trying to "locate" you. Nor can he threaten to or actually call the "nearbys" as punishment for your lack of reply. The clusters of phone calls and tendency toward verbal abuse don't look so good for his FDCPA compliance training, either. Hinting or blabbing about your money problems to others is another possible violation, which should prompt you to obtain statements from everyone affected by the dragnet.

Seems you're long overdue to send the agency some Cert Mail with your demands, beginning with a ban on all phone calls, since they obviously eschew good manners. Demand validation if you've not passed your thirty day window. Should the stress campaign continue apace, warm up a lawsuit and get your payback.

FDCPA § 1692b. Acquisition of location information

I never answer numbers I don't know.  They seldom leave a message.  That would leave evidence of harassment.

If we took every published version of claims that someone "never answers unfamiliar callers" and wrote each one on a side of each stone in the Great Wall of China, we might have to reconstruct the Berlin Wall just to continue the art installation project. I've said for a long time that avoiding a problem and solving one are two different actions, and I don't have the luxury of time for the digression.

The very nature of third party debt collection makes collector phone calls (initially) unexpected. The recipients cannot (usually) be familiar with the callers or their phone numbers ahead of time, precisely because -- as famously noted by ex-CFPB chief Richard Cordray -- no alleged debtors get to choose who collects from them.

It is hardly the case that keeping quiet and not responding will discourage collector phone calls. The evasive behavior is not getting the agents paid, and predictive dialers ensure that their time is rarely wasted on dud calls. The act of recording messages is not "evidence of harassment" any more than the act of dialing, not without critical context. Many debt collectors in fact shy from message recorders for fear of privacy violation, no matter how slim the chance, being a easy attractor of lawsuits. What earns the stamp of "harassment" depends on events before that call, which are often a very clear indication that collection calls are unwelcome or unlawful. Non-responses are unclear, hence why I keep suggesting a paper trail and invoking relevant FDCPA protections.

Most cell plans have a "Block Caller" if you have ask your cell provider how to use it. If not get it. They will never get your phone to ring from them again. Use it