calling neighbors

Can you tell us what company you are refering to? We may be able to give you some info on them.

I think, but I may be wrong, that they can try to locate you with one phone call, and when they find you, they cannot call your neighbors. But stick around in case I am wrong. If you had been making payments to them I don't understand why they would have to find you, unless a new Collection Agency bought the account..karen

Did you give this CA permission to get in contact with your neighbor? If you din't, then I would think they are NOT allowed to. If they tried to talk to the neighbor about YOUR account, that means this 'company' breached the confidentiallity issue..ya know? Hope this makes sense. This same issue happened to me..so, I'm just giving you my 'personal' opionion. If you are making payments, they should ALREADY have your info...address, phone number, etc. So, why would they "have to find you?" Really strange.

It is legal to call your neighbors....is it called skiptracing and as long as the debt is not disclosed they can call whoever they like. But if they already had a phone number for you, then it would not be permissible.

Yes, as I understand it, the CA can contact a third party only once to verify/get contact information. I don't think, however, it states that third party can be used as a messenger service. But I think as long as they didn't release any information concerning why they were trying to reach you, as in you owed money on a debt, there probably wouldn't be much you can do.

From the way I read the original post, however, if the OP was making payments on this debt then the CA had the OP's contact information and there was no reason they should have called the neighbor. I would just continue to pay what you can and maybe send them a limited cease and desist letter advising you don't want them contacting any third party regarding you or your debt without your written permission.

Also, if you are having a difficult time dealing with them on the phone due to rudeness or threatening you with fraud charges, I would start recording any and all calls you have with this CA. If they continue to harass you like that, sue them for fdcpa violations.

That's what I was saying...........if they already know your info, why contact a 'third party.' Makes no sense to me, anyway. Usually.........if a CA is rude to me, I just hang up and try to call again later. Hopefully......getting someone else on the phone who won't be rude.

Well, my theory is the only reason a CA would call a third party if they already have your contact information and they know it is accurate is to embarrass you. In the documentary "Maxed Out" the CA chick even says, while the cameras are rolling, she prefers to contact relatives as it's embarrassing to the debtor.

If they already have verified contact information directly from the consumer, then any further contact with any unauthorized 3rd party is a violation of the fdcpa and makes the offender subject to up to $1000 in fines. If the contacted party is willing to sign an affadavit and testify in court it's pretty much a slam dunk.

This is what worries me... If I don't answer the phone, they will call someone to find me... Yesterday Encore called my Parents! Maybe filing bankruptcy would be easier and not deal with all this....

My neighbor lost his job and these people call. I see no reason to help them.

So when they ask where he is, I told them he was on the road with John McCain. They ask if he has a job and I told them he doesn't need one as he won the lottery.

They called the other neighbor on the other side, she told them she'd be happy to help but would they be interested in buying a quilt from her that she just made? They said no and she told them she'd give them his cell number if they bought the quilt.

Well the really funny thing is that they bought the quilt! They sent her a bank check. Then they called and asked for the cell number. She said she was sorry but she already sold the quilt.

She told them she'd make another and give them the number later!

Ha ha.

Oh yes it is Mann Bracken who is calling.

Sarah Palin? Sure you are.lol.. I would tell the neighbor about the CA calling everyone and have him send them a C&D letter advising them to contact him by US Mail only. This will stop the calls, if it doesn't he can sue them.

Yes, that's really all you have to do.

Send a letter to the CA, send it certified mail/return receipt requested, advising the CA they are not to contact any third parties (including neighbors, family, friends, employer, newspaper delivery boy, etc.) regarding you or this debt. Advise them if you need them to contact any third party, you will provide them with written permission.

If they continue to do this, document it and then sure their behinds off.

I did think the story about the neighbor bartering with the CA to buy a quilt for the debtor's cell phone number was funny as heck! I'll have to try something like that the next time some CA starts harassing me trying to contact my brother.

Ain't that the truth!! CA's would LOVE to embarress us. A few years ago, a CA contacted me about something, and told me they had ALSO contacted a 'friend' of mine to talk to her about my debt. According to the CA this 'friend' and the CA had a "long conversasion about how I don't pay my bills." Here's the 'catch' to all of that. The 'friend' he was refering to no longer lived at the number I gave him originally, because she moved out of state. Actually..the 'friend' was serving her country, in Iraq, when the CA claimed he talked to her. Kinda funny...huh?

15 USC 1692b of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act governs when a CA may contact a 3rd party.

Also...I've had a debt that a CA 'took over.' I was making my monthly payment arrangements with them. They STILL contacted a relative ( who I had as a 'reference'/contact person). I was really angry when this was happening. They had all my info to contact me...why contact someone else?

I had this happen to me before me and my husband filed bankruptcy after we moved here to nc. I don't remember the name of the collection agency but they called several of my neighbors several times and wanted them to bring messages to me. I didn't even know any of these people except 2, which they lived on either side of me. It is embarrassing to have people come to your house when they don't even know you. One person even told them that they were not a messanger service and to quit calling thier house. The CA told them until I took care of my account that they could call whomever they wanted whenever they wanted to get the matter cleared up. Now it was not like I wasn't in contact with all the CA agencies. Just when they called 5 times a day every day, I would not answer the phone all the time. It was very frustrating and then we ended up filing bankruptcy. Our attorney had to threaten a couple of them because they still would not quit calling while we were going thru the process.

Geeez!

Another fine example of just why the fdcpa needs to be revised and to have the law makers put stiffer penalties in it! A $1,000 penalty is not nearly enough to discourage CA's from this time of chicanery. That is if someone that is harassed like this even gets to the point of suing the CA.

In my opinion, it needs to be more like $100,000!

CA's seem to play games..............and if they do that, than how are we suppose to find out what our LEGIT debts are ( just venting here..)? I mean, we all know we have debts, but, if you have SOO many, we may forget who the OC's are. If you continue to get calls and letters, from CA's, about debts you MAY have, you may REALLY think you owe on these cretain debts because the calls nad letters SEEM to be legit. What I've been doing, if I receive calls from CA's, I try to get as much information as I could..or..if I receive a letter, I search the CA on the web. A few CA's I looked up on the web, I found NO information...good or bad. I'm not sending money to someone if I can't find information on.