Debt Collectors

troll-spew deleted - Uncle Wulf

O.J. Simpson is sure safe from Collectors.

BTW, is it really true you can avoid paying debts, without being hauled into court?

Or put in jail?

Reason I'd like to know is, in case they say I owe something I do not know about and cannot pay. I'm not saying I wouldn't pay if I could afford to, but I cannot afford to.

Most have been pretty fair w/me I must say - and if I owe the money I do feel an obligation to pay.

What's frustrating is that sometimes CAs don't seem to understand how difficult this economy is for so many americans. They push for large payments and often don't want to listen when you tell them you can commit.

Take my own experience - Due to a divorce, the economy (job loss/having to take lower paying job/ having to pay more for health insurance, etc.) & frequent periods of no child-support, I went through a 2 year phase back in 2000 where I could barely provide a roof over our heads & put food on the table, let alone pay the gas & electric bill. Plus I had a $350 car payment on a car that was always breaking down - every 3 months or so some major repair would happen. I wound up defaulting on my cc debt, not because I'm a low-life, but because I truly did not have a penny extra. I often had to choose between going grocery shopping or paying a utility bill. For my family of 5 I sometimes was thankful enough to have $35 left over after paying bills to go spend at Aldi for a weeks worth of food. Hard times indeed!!

On another note, my big gripe is more with with junk debt buyers - I have no respect for them & will not work them. No consumer should!

collector--you asked why people here go under the assumption that collectors on the phone will be nasty--thats called "experience".

Case in point---look at all the truly horrible debt collection agencies out there. The ones that have to keep changing their name all the time, the ones that know they are breaking the law and dont care. I actually had a lady call me and tell me that my wife was gonna be arrested and go to jail(illegal all over the place) for a debt--wasnt even her debt to begin with--and the lady was on the phone laughing and shouting "SHES GONNA GO TO JAIL SHES GONNA GO TO JAIL!!" like she was at a pep rally....and THAT was on the first call from that CA!

Bottom line--your industry as a whole sucks big time. Next to no one follows the laws, and the penalty for violating the fdcpa is so small that it isnt even a deterrent to these agencies. They budget it in like it is a normal operating expense. They know that getting fined $1000 here and there isnt anything because so few people will sue, and they will collect more using illegal tactics than they are fined each year. Where's the deterrent in that?

Your industry will take a LONG time to turn around, if it ever does. Nothing personal against you, its just the way that this industry does things. I am to this day still battling with a debt buyer on the east coast--they claim that for the last two years I have owed them $40K for a house that I voluntarily surrendered, in Kentucky. Problem--I have not once ever lived in Kentucky! Been battling that one for two years and only a couple months ago did I finally track down the actual company, thanks to much deception on their part! So, why woudl they be deceptive when it comes to identifying themselves? No honest reason would require such an action, think about that....

When I get finished with the two lawsuits we are already involved with as plaintiffs against debt collectors, those clowns are next.

Right on sky, I;m getting prepared to sue a couple od CA's myself.

Preach it, Skydivr7673!!! It's just like Telemarketers, but a lot of Bill collectors can be very unscrupulous in another way, and will go to any length to intimidate someone into paying, which to me, is extortion. They cannot get their commission if they cannot get the debtor to pay. So they will do anything to get the money. I think a good term for that is prostitution, because you are throwing morality out the window so you can make money.
I apologize to the decent Bill Collectors and Telemarketers that follow all the laws, and do not constantly call and harass people.
you do realize, that the more you harass, the less likely they want to cooperate, some use threats, harassment, and intimidation.
One Bill collection agency I had was decent years ago. They sent their stuff by mail. I called them and told them there was no way I could pay, I was unemployed, and could not work because of medical problems. The Hospital forgave my debt, which was decent of them.
That collection agency did mention in the letter if I chose to ignore them, I could face civil action. But I responded to them because they sent me a polite letter.

Thanks for all the responses.... another question... if you're getting calls and letters why don't you respond? At least send a letter if you dont want to talk to the collector. I have so many accounts that it takes four days to get through them all, that means I might call an account two to three times a week for a couple months and never get a callback - not even to tell me Im calling a wrong number. How come? I understand that people dont feel comfortable returning calls when they dont know what the call is about. fdcpa states I cant disclose to a third party --- which includes your answering machine. So I cant warn you about an impending lawsuit. You probably know that Im calling with bad news but you dont know that I am able to present options that will save you money.

that's easy my friend,all of my pdl's are illegal in my state.that didn't stop them from calling and threatening.after three straight ambushes yelling,demanding immediate payment by phine with a checking acct,telling me that a warrant was already issued for my arrest.i found this site shortly after that.now i do take calls,but the nanosecond they get stupid i end the call.note the# on my caller id and never answer them again.i got out all the letters and what do ya know?not a peep.going on 14 months now.i believe as you suggest,answer if someone calls just don't take any abuse.

pdl?

Payday Loans.

Imadebtcollector,

You ask why you don't get call backs? When I was dealing with a CA I would get a call from a collector asking for a callback giving me a number and ext to callback. When I call I am unable to put in an extension, when somebody answer and I asked for that extension they would say they had left or were on the phone and that they would help you. callback a different time and go through the same thing and get a different person and start the same process over.

Also when I had my problems (I had a business failure and had been out of work for 2 months) the CA would call and they would ask for an intial payment of $3-5,000 dollars just to bring things "current". Then expect $1,500 every two weeks until it was paid off. Well we were using our savings to keep food on the table and meet basic living expenses and there was no way I could or would do that. Then the yelling and insults would start.

In a different instance I hung up on one guy and he kept calling back and tried to keep yelling. He called one day when I was not home and got my wife and started yelling and threatening her, he was so loud that her 19 y.o. niece who was about 15 feet away heard him.
She called me hystrerical and told me what had happened I called the CA back and yelled at the guy and he said he did not do that and it did not matter because I was a deadbeat, yada yada yada. I hung up and got his manager and told him "that if that guy EVER called my house again they would be getting a PERSONAL visit from me" since I only lived 10 miles down the freeway from them it would be a very quick response. Once they actually checked where I lived I never heard from them again.

I guess they don't have a problem with threatening people when they are far away but when they can actually be held responsible for their actions they run and hide.

I do not believe this was an isolated incident. And that is why most people don't want to deal with CAs.

Here is the story, imadebtcollector:
1. I was never contacted by mail or phone about any delinquent bills.

2. My friend (15 miles away) has been getting call 2 times a week, from some asian sounding guy, asking for ME.

3. The last time I heard from my friend, last Saturday, the guy called him again. My friend asked what he wanted. He just left his phone number.

4. I tried calling that number, but I cannot talk to anyone. Several minutes of music played on worn tape is about all I can take.

5. I sent them a Validation request.

6. Haven't heard anything since. WHY should I go out my way to contact them by phone when they never contacted me directly??

7. If they sue me, I guess I'll have to go to court. I'll tell the judge I got no previous notice from them, and the suit was the first time I heard anything about it from them.

8. I have no job, nor assets.

9.I just hope it's all a mistake and they won't bother me or my friend again. I don't know if they tried calling my friend again, because I haven't spoke to hime since Saturday.

10. It pisses me off someone would bug my friend's family. If I have a debt, they should have my contact info.

I have only dealt with OCs so far, no CAs. Some are very kind and considerate when I explain our situation. Others obviously just have a script they are trying to get through and don't bother to listen to anything I say. So far, none have been rude or obnoxious--other than the fact that they call daily or every other day--and obviously, if we are going through a financial hardship, nothing is going to change in one day. I think that is probably why a lot of people are defensive as soon as they answer the phone, because it gets tiring having to repeat the same thing multiple times every day. I personally try to be cordial since I know they are just doing their jobs. But, as I said, I haven't had any of them be rude to me yet, so I haven't had reason to be rude back.

And, in response to your question about why not send a letter. Sending letters doesn't work unless you can fit into one of their "programs." Besides that, based on my recent experiences with multiple credit cards, the collectors who are calling on the phone don't even know that you did send a letter. When you talk to them and tell them that you sent a letter, they still just want to know when you can make a payment to bring the account current. And talking to them on the phone doesn't do much good either. They just call back again the next day. That said, I answer my phone between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm weekdays and go through the same story multiple times each day. The only reason I even answer is because I'm hoping to delay charge offs long enough to come up with some funds for settlement. However, since our current income barely covers our mortgages and our modest living expenses, that's probably not too likely.

I just got a call from my friend. He said his wife received a call, asking for me, and they told her they was a CA. All they ask for me, and that's all. (they sound like they are using my first and last name) My friend told them not to call anymore. And I told my friend if they do call, we'll need to send a C&D letter. He does not really want to pay for the CM/RRR. I just checked my current credit report, and got a high score, and there are no collections noted.

I don't know what these jerks are pulling, but I think they are trying to con me, they figure if they can talk to me, they can intimidate me into paying for something I know nothing about. Or maybe it's a spoofed number.

I sincerely invite you to take a test drive around this forum. You will find much more often than not the people who post here have replied, sent letters, called back or answered the phone when CA's call. the issues many of us have come directly from the fact that we have spoken with someone at the CA and they have acted illegally. For example, the CA I mentioned earlier that shouted at me about how my wife was going to go to jail--the contact with them came in the form of a message left on our answering machine saying something like "This is Tom Dayton, calling about a very important business matter. This is not a sales call. Please return the call to ________". So, I returned the call that evening, and was immediately lied to and threatened with action that no CA can legally even begin to take against someone, even if the debt were legally ours!

You want to know why people dont want to talk to you? Its because youre a debt collector and EVERYONE knows someone somewhere who dealt with a debt collector and it turned out to be a complete nightmare. Your industry and the way it has chosen to conduct business is what screws this up for you. The same is true of any business---its the reputation that the industry has earned because of shady tactics, illegal crap all over the place, and in some cases, some massively downright disgusting behavior. Perhaps you should spend some time looking around the internet to see exactly what kinds of true horror stories are out there. I remember one story of a woman whose husband had a credit card debt that was past due, and the account went to third party collection. The collection agency actually sent people posing as sheriff's officers, and they REPOSSESSED THE WOMAN'S CAR for a CREDIT CARD DEBT. This isnt just words on a letter or a phone call anymore...People have been attacked and beaten, have been threatened with all kinds of things, have been illegally sued, have been illegally robbed of money from their bank accounts, and the list goes on and on. So, why, you ask, do people not want to talk to debt collectors?

And then, there are the millions...(and millions)....of times when people like us tell a debt collector something and they dont bother to listen anyways. Such as---look around this forum. Tell me how many times you see people requesting debt validation. now, tell me how many times you actually see that person say "wow, they sent me proper, legal validation!" In a nutshell, IT DOESNT HAPPEN. People make requests every day that are well within our legal rights, and debt collectors have made such a habit of making excuses, lying about what they are legally required to do, or just plain ignoring our words altogether. Oh, when youre done reading through the hundreds of times that people here asked for validation and didnt get it, then you can move on to all the times when people have informed a CA not to call them at work, and the CA continues to do so anyways. The list goes on and on. I could literally choke the bandwidth of this forum if I wanted to explain every disgusting, illegal, moronic thing I have either seen a debt collector do, or heard of a debt collector doing to someone else.