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

Thanks so much for the rude update, Fraud Buster John. I notice that everyone who has ever demanded that I "get my facts straight" suffers from some form of fact dyslexia or reading disability, and soon relies upon ad hominem attacks in place of a reasoned argument.

Given that Walt never disclosed his location, it was reasonable to assume he lives in the States, not Canada, along with the vast majority of 800Notes users. His question concerned debt collectors who refuse to quit bothering the wrong person, a very common problem which crosses international borders. I'm so happy for Ontario residents that their government tries to protect them. The US also has laws to punish false skip tracing. Yet this bad practice remains the one which people all over North America most complain about in their dealings with the collection industry. This is despite the fact that a US citizen can sue for relief and your Ontario-ites cannot.

Why won't the bullies stop calling, John? That's what Walt wanted to know, and I gave one perspective. Where's yours? What straight facts do you have to resolve this which we have all been missing?

} Too many collectors post senselessly here or try and remove posts that appear to expose them after they open an account ... allow these reptiles to join and make and [sic] account to remove posts

Do you mean this single slow-moving thread or all of 800Notes? Maybe you should point us to the "senseless" debt collector propaganda in the former, because I'm having difficulty locating any over the past couple years.

As to your novel post removal theory, Admin powers are not granted here instantly upon site registration. I see no evidence of any secret agent for a debt collector tampering with any of this site's content in its entire history.

What "defeats the mandate" around here is to sling inane accusations in a weak attempt to seed distrust of 800Notes as a resource for an often vulnerable population. Some "Fraud Buster", what a hoot.

They are required by law to give you their company name which in the case of a telemarketer may be their client's name, contact information and a mailing address, this is the same for any telemarketing company.  I worked for a legitimate telemarketing company, while our outgoing calls were strictly business to business sales or customer service follow up calls for our non-business to business clients, we still had to follow the same laws.

Here is the drill. Never answer. Never give information, money or purchase anything. Just get a phone the blocks calls. You can block range of numbers too. The best thing to do is block before your phone picks up. It totally foils robocallers.

BTW. Panasonic makes a good phone with great blocking features. I'm sure most others also do the same thing. There is no reason why you need to ever talk to debt collectors.

Several years ago I paid a collection agency for a medical bill.  I later learned that I had never actually owed that bill.  Although I requested that they return the money I had paid them, they never repaid me.  Therefore, it is my policy to never pay a collection agency.  I once had a supervisor at an agency tell me that I was not allowed to pay the collector--I had to pay them.  As it turns out, the onus of the debt was on my health insurance.  I never paid this agency and it turned out that I did not need to.

I get dunning calls for my ex-wife every now and then. I tell them that she doesn't live here, never lived here, has remarried and changed her name. Usually once I tell it's my ex, they back off, especially when go into what a train wreck she is, credit wise.

Depending upon which state you live in might have bearing on it, but 7 times a day?  Pretty sure that is at the very least questionable, if not straight up illegal.  Check your local laws.

Let's see if we can pile up another couple dozen replies to Jennifer from eleven years ago to make an even hundred, since we lack satisfaction with the existing supply of responses.

https://800notes.com/arts/harassing-calls-fro ... 653121328514764
https://800notes.com/arts/harassing-calls-fro ... 605618756852748

} never actually owed that bill.  Although I requested that they return the money I had paid them, they never repaid me.

A risible request .... That's like asking the coyote to kindly drop that chicken in its jaws. You'd need to have sued to recover those funds, provided that the agency did something to mislead you into paying. Else you'd have to show that the debt claim was wildly wrong from the start, a/k/a lacking "reasonable basis" for collection.

} not allowed to pay the collector--I had to pay them.

I think you'd meant that paying the creditor was forbidden. Right away "beltfed", first to reply to Chris, pointed out one of the problems with the "pay the OC" fallacy, one of account ownership. In your case it was again a question of reasonable basis. In any case of assigned debt it's difficult to end-run the collector, which typically has clients locked under a "no direct pay" agreement. The lesson of your experience is to question everything, and never assume that the creditor has clean hands or accurate records.

} There is no reason why you need to ever talk to debt collectors.

I can think of a few thousand reasons, mainly the dollars I've earned in FDCPA settlements based on violations from collector phone calls. Once again, the thread title does not ask if we know what a call blocker does or which ones are hot this year. You are in no position to tell me what to do with my ringing phones unless you want to send me a fat annual subsidy check.

Incorrect, an account can and wiill be credit reported as "disputed". IF the dispute is found to be factual after investigatiion it will be removed from the credit report and the consumer will be notified it has been removed. Also the FTC does not handle phone communications. We also record all our calls so baiters can't pull fast ones and collectors stay civil.

Did you file a police report? Because that's required so an investiigatiion can be conducted. It's also helpful to call back that collector with the poliice report number so the account be tagged as possible fraud. So in the even it ever got credit reported, it would show disputed as fraudulent.

All well and good if the consumer says they're recording the call. HOWEVER if they do it without telling the collector and they later try toi use it in a court. It would be thrown out of court.

Incorreect, verbal consent is also accepted from the consumer.