Whataburger Suing Debt Collection Company For Harassing Its Employee At Work

Good one!

Have you ever been a healthy person working hard at a great paying job that you love, a job you deserved because you busted your but putting yourself through College. You had a house, a family, a bank account and then......... A sudden unexpected illness comes at you, you fight with what you have, but soon you cannot work anymore and then the family breaks down, and now there is no health insurance and the bank account and the house is gone. All your life you worked hard and every year you get a letter from the SSA telling you what you would get a month if you retire, what you would get if you were disabled and then........You are humiliated begging for the money YOU paid into all your life, while some toothless pot bellied [***] laughs at "how theyed got disability cause they was depressed" but yet never worked for more than a year or so at multiple jobs.

Collection agencies do not care, I would love t be able to pay what I agreed when I borrowed, but they broke the disagreement first, by increasing the interest rate so high the min. payment due is almost enough to pay rent, ( and THEY did break the agreement until they were caught and made accountable), they do not want to make deals that are reasonable. Not everyone is a dead beat, the above can happen to anyone, do not be so quick to judge. I got off my high horse five years ago.

I worked for a collection company in the 90's in Tulsa OK.  It was started by a man who had been harrassed by collection agency reps.   His young daughter was harrassed by them when she answered the phone.  He decided to open his own collection agency and treat the people with respect.   His philosphy was bad things happen to good people.  We were not allowed to call people debtors,t hey were customers.   People paid us when they wouldn't pay other agencies.    I had collection agencies calling me for my own bad decisions I had made.   I tried to work out a payment plan but when I tried I they wouldn't work with me.  No matter how much I paid, I couldn't get ahead because of continued "interest and penalties".  This was on a  student loan and back then you could file bankruptcy when it was in default for 7 years.   My plan was to file after the y 7 years hit.   Luckily, I went to work for this "friendlier" collection agency and learned some laws and some negotiations skills.  I was able to negotiate a settlement and pay the debt off that way.   Most of the debt I collected on was on people who had had some major medical condition happen and either had no insurance or were under insured.

This would be true IF they were in a Federal court but they filed in a TEXAS court.  Texas has added consumer protection laws and a Judge may set aside what ever caps there are IF Whataburger can show that NCO was Flagrent in their violation.  Remember, this is a country where Limits only apply to those that have limited resources to fight the system.

I think you missed the point here.  They were NOT calling the person with the Debt.  They were calling the Corporate Office.  And further, they were then spending time talking to the person that answered the phone, fishing for information about the debtor and/or wanting the Call Center person to forward information or give information to/about said individual.  Once the Cease Order was given, ANY contact to the Corporate AND to the Individual at his/her place of employment is to be terminated.  No further contact via this method is to occur.

This is NOT about whether the employee has a debt to pay or not (and yes, he/she should pay or make arrangements to pay).  It is about the continued communications to corporate, costing the Call-Center personnel time that could have been spent doing what they are paid to do, their JOBS.

Just hang up...Don't talk to them at all.simple

Sad tale BUT if you simply kept up with the original bill, the account number and creditor (the two most important things) and what you had paid on that account and to whom, you wouldn't have gone through all of this. Doesn't matter whose hands that bill passes through, they reference the original creditor and account number on their invoicing.

Any differences in amounts you would then take up with the original creditor because they turned over the wrong amount.

And there is nothing anywhere that says a delinquent account can't be reported to a credit bureau. The problem is those same companies won't report the payments or payoff. Nor do they have to.

Many hospitals now have their own collection agency as a first layer of accounts receivables. . The billing office simply turn the bills over to them after a certain amount of time.  As for 'never pay a collection agency', unless you can get the original creditor to reassume the debt, you really have no choice if the debt is legit. Sometimes you can get them to take it back on. I have, but there are no guarantees it won't go back to collections.  

While you can blame your over payment problem on everyone else, in the end you were to blame because you weren't keeping up with your business.  

I am no proponent of collection agencies. But this mess wasn't their fault. It is your responsibility to be on top of what you owe.

I sued them twice and won on both counts.  The first time, I had care of a 13 year old family member while both parents were deployed.  We gave the girl her first cell phone to put her at ease and receive "special" calls from mom/dad when they could.

Her teacher in school confiscated the phone because of excessive incoming calls disrupting the class and I went down to pick it up.  That's when the girl told me a man kept calling asking for her parents.  They scared the hell out of her claiming she was lying about the parents being deployed and terrorized her with 15-20 calls a day.  They told her they would see to it she would "never see her parents again" if she didn't get them to pay their bills.  

I called the number, learned it was NCO.  Demanded information about the bill.  They did not want to tell me anything and refused to stop calling the teen.  I sent a letter overnight and certified demanding a copy of the itemized bill the teen was being harassed over.  They disregarded the letter and kept calling.

I reported them to the FCC and started writing my story on consumer boards.  An attorney reached out to assist.  When we demanded a copy of the bill, we learned they had the wrong number and finally admitted it.  They settled out of court and we received $2,000 after legal fees.  I put it in a fund for the girl's college education.

About a year later, I guess they were retaliating against me because they started calling my home claiming I owed them money.  When I received the itemized bill, it was a collection letter printout.  It took 4 months of phone harassment.  I contacted their client and learned they had no bill in my name, or with my social.    I sent a cease and desist which was disregarded and I recorded them making abusive comments knowing their game.  They told me I was a "deadbeat" and "going to jail for committing credit card fraud" unless I gave them my debit card and allowed them access to $250.   Once I had them, I hung up and called the same attorney.  They settled out of court and I wound up with another $3,000 that helped cover expenses in my Masters program.

I have a buddy that will talk on end with these guys... agree to whatever.. exchange numbers, addresses and then try to keep them on the line.  He promises to send a ck...  then he does nothing.
   Not my style, but more power to him.
   I had credit score of 740 before it hit the fan... but when they are quick to trash my credit... then there is no fear of them making it worse.  It was 740 because bills paid timely.  When it went to hell because of banking greed and my work fell off due to banking... little empathy from this writer.  They should have let the banks collapse.  They were the offender, they took the bailout money and then did not loosen lending as promised by them anyways.  There were those that were ethical and could have picked up the remnants.  The feds would have been stung and then would oversee the banking.
  There is no oversight on banking, try filing a complaint... the national office is manned by high schoolers, they collect complaints... and do nothing.

In writing, via mail with proof of service, send them a do not call, do not write.  "I deny the debt, no debt is due."  Then when they call, answer, don't engage, dont take it personal- like talking to a schizophrenic,  say uh huh then set the phone down and every little bit say ok.  Try to keep them on the line...  dont talk to them, dont engage, be calm, dont be fussed.  Your new paradigm is to see how long you can keep them on the phone before they hang up.  Tell them what they want to hear, give them addresses.. whoever, give them numbers, even invite them to mail you crap.
   Do not give them your real name or address.  It will become entertaining for you...  trust me.  They will stop calling...
   I have dont this... when you shift to this new approach, they usually cut calls after just a few.  Where when you fight with them, it urges them on for years.

what a bull$hit naive response.  You havent been out much. That story is often repeated much to your surprise and the collector knew what they were up to.

I love Whataburger! Always have and always will. Great burgers and a great company.

NCO messed with the wrong company.

Sweet!

Scott, you are right as to statutory violations, it is only up to $1k total but this does not mean that applies to state laws and under 15 U.S.C. 1692 a debt collector can be liable for actual damages plus cost and attorney fees.  This could be steep if they add up the time that their managers or employees spent on the phone telling this collector to stop calling.

Not sure where any of this fits into the websites topic, but here goes my opinion.

If you had not tried to kill yourself, then none of this would have happened. I would suggest next time do a better job. Harsh, but truthful. Don't call for help, and go somewhere where they can't transport or treat you in time. If you think it is your "right" to die, then do it where you cannot be saved, and where it won't cost anyone else any time or money.

I also have a ambulance bill that I am not able to pay for, but not because I tried to kill myself, but because I am broke, disabled, and have little to no income. Not because of something I did, but because of my health, my genes, my lot in life I guess. I do my best to not affect others, but unless I live hundreds of miles away from emergency services and have no access to phones or people, I cannot stop people from trying to save my life. They are required to try and save me, morally as well as legally. Telling them to let you die means you are suicidal, which in today's climate means you are mentally deficient, and they want to put you away to observe you, against your will!

Next time take a long walk off a short pier.


Very sorry if this is off topic, and feel free to delete it it if it is inappropriate for this site.