Recording Phone Conversations

What is the best way to record phone conversations with collectors?

Hi Htgt123

Get a Radio Shack from the electronic store and attach it to your phone device.

Remember that 38 state laws allow recording phone calls. But if you are living in the following states, you will have to get permission from the other end also. Otherwise it will be a violation of the Federal law and you will have to face legal grounds. The states which require permission from both parties are
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

But in the remaining 38 states, you have the legal rights to record the calls.

When you get a call from the collector, you might be fairly interested in recording it. Depending upon the state where you live in, switch on the recorder and talk to the person on the other end. First inform him politely that he should stop all collection efforts as you have financial problems. If the person refuses to comply with your request, you can mention about the federal laws as stated in the fdcpa. You can also inform them that you intend to send a cease and desist letter so that the calls are stopped.

If by all means, they refuse to comply with your do not call request, inform them that you are recording the calls and wish to present it to your attorney. As the state that you are living is making this recording legal, you will be further interested in taking actions against them. Hopefully, this will put an end to all collection calls.

So I live in Arizona. So I don't have to tell them, correct? Can you do it to your cell phone too? What do I need to get from Radio Shack? I think you forgot a word.

Thanks.

In Arizona, you are free to record the calls of debt collectors. You can do the same with your cell phone too.

Sorry, my mistake in typing the sentence LOL. Actually, I was writing a recording device from Radio Shack that can be attached to the phone device.

If the community is sufficiently interested debt consolidation care can provide this service as a free service for the community.
[more power to the people ]

It will work like this:
When the collector calls you, tell him that your phone number is 1877-663-3288 and you are on extension abcd <it will be same as your userid>

Now when the collector calls you at that number the call will be automatically forwarded to the landing number that you provide in your member area.

You can keep talking to the collector and the phone call will be recorded and will be available on the member area as a recorded mp3 file.

below the MP3 file we will allow you to take down notes. And during the phone call if you feel that you have been threatened or something illegal was done, then we can have the phone call as a evidence in a law suit that can be filed.

hi Vikas, sounds like agreat idea! How would someone go about setting this up?? would the extension then ring through to our regular phone??

We have started working on it. Once it is finished I will be able to give you the complete process for activating the service.

It has two phases,

1. Creditor or CA (collection agency) calling DebtCC community member.
2. DebtCC community member calling a creditor or a CA.

Let me explain phase by phase.
Phase-1 : Creditor or CA (collection agency) calling DebtCC community member.

1. Creditors or CAs know your number as
   1877-663-3288 (extn [DebtCC userid]) , which is again a toll-free one .
2. Creditor connects to 1877-663-3288 and hears a message “Your conversation will be recorded”. Creditor then dials the extn.
3. Our Application will get the extn number and will check the Database for the member's phone number wrt to useid (which is same as extn number).
4. Application will then connect the line to user's phone number (the regular phone number provided by the user).
5. The call is connected.
6. A background process will record the complete conversation and will put it to the user's “member section” in mp3 format. This will be downloadable.
7. User or the caller (creditor or CA) can disconnect the line at anytime.

Phase – 2: DebtCC community member calling a creditor or a CA.

1. Member calls DebtCC toll free number 1877-663-3288 and then enters the extn (which is same as member's userid provided by DebtCC).
2. Member then dials the creditor or CA.
3. The creditor on their caller id will only see the toll free number of DebtCC and the extension number as the user id. This way the creditor will not be able to get the caller id
4. Again the conversation will get recorded in downloadable mp3 format.

So both incoming and outgoing calls are getting recorded. We are open for suggestions and feedbacks.

At community's service
Vikas

Ben,
Am I understanding right, in the state of Tennessee I do not have to tell the creditors that I am recording?

The taps are actually fairly cheap. It looks like a small black suction cup. The last time I priced these, they were $3.99 and the small recorder was $19.99 (excluding the tapes).

Thank you for all of the information. I think the phone number idea would be great. Thank you for all of the information.

Mom of twins,

You do not have to take permission from the other party about the call being recorded in the state of Tennessee. You can tell them at any time about the recording and they can't take any actions against you as per the state laws.

The advantage of this application is that it is granting permission of both the parties in all the 50 states in the US.

As mentioned in point 2 in the post of Vikas:
This way, the creditors or collection agencies can't deny that they were not being informed about the call being recorded.

Vikas-

This sounds like a great idea. It's perfect for people who aren't able to get the taps for recording, and those last minute phone calls that are unexpected.

This site keeps getting better and better.

Thanks-
Mike

Hi Mike,

Our team is working on this application. We will publish it in the forums as soon as it is online. Hopefully, the community will fully utilize this service.

Thanks
Vikas

This is a wonderful idea!!!!Thanks Vikas for all you do for this site.This will be a godsend for alot of people.