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

Please take notice of a company that is using illegal tactics to collect a debt, they use the following phone numbers 240-483-4601, 240-764-4265.

They refuse to identify themselves and will not give an address or even a fax number (which is Illegal)
They say they have a civial suit against you and provide a bogus case number, they than threaten to have  you arrested (another illegal tactic).  When I told them this was illegal and hung-up they called back and said they had issued an arrest warrant on me.  

I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision and also the FBI since the use of the phone goes accross state lines, it than falls into their jurisdiction.  If you are getting any calls from these numbers file a complaint with the above agencies, they tend to be quicker to react when it affects more people.

Can someone tell me if there is anything we can do in this situation?  I work for a company and recently we got a call from a collection agency.  This guy said we owed our accountant X amount of dollars and we hadn't paid therefore it was turned over to this certain collection company.  We told this guy that we were not aware of any monies owed to him...it was the accountant we had used in the past.  We also told this guy to give us a few days so we could gather whatever information we needed.  So we called the accountants office and left a message with the secretary to call us back.  By the next day we had dates and check numbers of where we had paid this debt but we had not heard back from the accountants office directly to see what was going on.  We got another phone call from this guy at the collection agency.  I am the one that answers the phone first and I also knew what was going on.  I told him that we were still waiting to hear back from the original creditor and to please give us another day or two, and that there was no one else here he could talk to at that time.  He starts asking me all kinds of questions about the company and I didn't feel comfortable answering them so I told him someone would be getting back to him.  He starts yelling at me, not believing that we are doing anything and even asked to talk to some of our shop guys. He told us we needed to pay our fu**ing bills (I quote) and we better get this taken care of.  I told him not to use that kind of language with me and that I would pass his message along to the proper people.  There was another woman in the office and she heard this.  So I hung up with the guy and he called right back.  He had my name and threatens that he will be my worst nightmare if I don't get this bill paid.  Umm, it's not my company for one and I already told him I would pass the message along.  This jerk called our office continually for the next 15 minutes, tying up the phone lines.  We told him we couldn't continue to check into this if we had to keep answering his phone calls.  He would respond by saying "If you paid your fu**ing bills I wouldn't be calling" and so forth.  Well it turns out we did pay it and the OC mistakenly applied our payments to something else...but they then took their time telling the collection agency.  So this guy calls back 2 days later and we tell him it's been taken care of.  He proceeds to call us liars and again using foul language with us.  So, if we told him to please stop harrassing us and he kept calling - we can prove it through phone logs how many times he called - is there anything we can do in case this happens to us or to someone else in the future?

got call from debt collector in chicago...very rude..settled on bill still have not received paperwork that should of came within 15 days..EVERYBODY BEWARE

"Also, never ignore the collector either. They will not stop contacting you, and may even file a lawsuit against you."

Here is my situation: in the Fall of 2005, my SSN was stolen, someone opened a phone account with SOuthwestern/ATT with it. Fortunately, the police found out about it just 3 months later, and ATT did not charge me anything, b/c it was not me who made those phone calls!

Now, 2 years later, ERC (866-454-6488) calls me nearly every day, claiming that I own them money!!! Interestingly, and annoyingly, ERC also knows my SSN!!!  I called ATT, they do not have any negative account in my name.

So, what am I supposed to do?

ATT says I do not own them anything, so why do these (Indian) [***] from "Enhanced Recovery Coorperation" claim I own them sth?

Should I get the police report from my case, and sending it to them, asking them to stop any action against me, b/c it wasn't me who did that phone account?  But then they know my correct mailing address, and will even harrass me more!!

It says above "file a lawsuit".. how can this be the case????  If I don't own those [***] sth?

I'm involved in a billing dispute with a dentist, who has attempted to make me pay 70% more than what he required me to pay on the date of service,after giving me a written Estimate setting forth the lower amount.  Essentially he held himself out as being in my insurance network, when he wasn't; he had me pay the in-network rate up-front, and now wants the balance that an out-of-network patient would have to pay.

I've filed a dispute with the State Atty General's Consumer Affairs office, and have advised the collection agency that the debt is in dispute AND that I have filed a complaint. I gave them the complaint docket number etc. They continue to threaten to "ruin" my credit over a $400 dispute.  What can I do to get them to back off?

You need to make sure you know the law in the state you reside with regard to taping phone calls.  Some states require that both parties agree to the taping or you must not tape.  Other states require that only one person know that taping is going on.  Also, it is better to state that you are ensuring they are complying with FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)

Just to clarify here, remember that FDCPA only affects 3rd party collections, so if your original creditor is calling or having someone call FDCPA does not cover that.  With that said, if your debt is charged off and sold to a "3rd party" collection company they are required to send out a validation letter to the last known address of the consumer that is usually provided by the original debtor.  Once that has been done, the consumer has 30 days to dispute the debt.  If he or she does so, the collection company must validate or prove the debt via media, stmnts or application.  If they cannot, they must remove the debt from your credit report and send you confirmation of the deletion.  If you do NOT respond within the 30 days and decide to dispute the account later, you will need to provide proof the account is not yours or that it was paid or prove whatever you are disputing.  Also, not sure what the two years "The Man" is talking about, but what I do know is once the account has been deleted, it is just that, deleted it is no longer on the report at all and not counted in any scoring.  However, if you have to prove your dispute, the collection company can report the account as a collection account not paid until you are able to prove your case and depending on the situation it will be deleted or updated appropriately.

Just because a debt is past the "SOL," (statute of limitations) does not mean it is not collectable unless you live in a state that expressly states that it is, it just means they can sue in a court of law.  There are states that have a SOL of only 4 years and some that have 14, but the federal reporting on credit bureaus is 7 years regardless of the state SOL.  Now if your debt is past the SOL in your state and past the federal reporting period, there is not much leverage a collection company has, but they can still call you.  It will be more of moral character decision on the debtors part to pay it or not.

Sorry for the typo...meant to say they CAN'T sue in a court of law.

Yes as long as the account is still within the state(the state you currently reside) statute of limitations.  The collection company either has in house attornies or contracts attornies in your state to process the legal claim.  Many cases if the account is contracted out to an attorney, they will try to settle with you first.  They don't have to though and can start legal proceedings without ever contacting you first.

7 years is the federal reporting period time on a credit report for a closed or charged off debt.  Once 7 years from the date of "occurence" or when you first became delinquent, has passed a creditor is can no longer submit a credit reporting and the credit bureau should delete the tradeline.  The timeframe to be sued on a past due debt is seperate from the federal reporting period and varies from state to state from as low as 3 years to as high as 14 years.  So you need to check on the statute for your state to find out how long you have.  Also, if the statute has expired, a collection company/agency cannot tell you they are sending your account to an attorney, this would be against FDCPA

This sounds like first party collections...your accountant contracted a collection agency to collect for him.  I would call the accountant and let him know how the collection agecny is representing him. As far as legally...it would depend on your state if there is anything you can do.

Did you ever receive anything in writing from ATT that they cancelled the account and removed the debt?  If you didn't, chances are it was never cleared and got sold off with all the other unpaid accounts.  ATT won't have any negative account in your name because it was sold and not in the current database.  If you have a police report, you can file a dispute with the company and provide the police report.  They should remove the account and delete any negative credit reporting.  Make sure you include the cease and desist and send it certified.  If this is an agency collecting for someone else, get the primary owner's name and address and send copies to them as well.

there is a limit of 3 times a day according to the fair debt collection practices act.

Have you tried filing a complaint with the Board of Dentistry in your state for unfair billing practices.  If you have all the paperwork and proof to back up your claim, he might write it off once he gets a notice from them.