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Worried about collection calls at work

Date: Thu, 03/23/2006 - 06:07

Submitted by iloveteaching
on Thu, 03/23/2006 - 06:07

Posts: 150 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 15


I am becoming worried that some of these people will start calling me at work. I don't have a direct line and they would have to leave messages. I definitely don't need harrassment at work. I have faxed and sent out cease and desist letters and am hoping that will work especially for the payday lenders who are in the United States (I referred to the fdcpa in my letters) but I have 3 loans with lenders who are in other countries (Belize and London). Do they also have to abide by the FDCPA, or is there an international law that I can use as protection against them harrassing me at work.


Yes, subject to local law that forbids harassment by telephone. (If they're actually creditors and not debt collectors.) Your employer may have more rights with respect to that stuff than you do, as it's the employer's phones and business that they're messing with. 'Course, the reason they're calling you there is to create the threat that the employer will blame you for the trouble and fire you. If their purpose is to mess with your employment relationship as opposed to legitimate debt collection, then you could sue them for "intentional interference with economic relations".

But what I'd suggest is to go to your most understanding boss in the chain of command and lay out what's happening and why, and ask for help. Embarrasing as that may be, you'll head off more trouble by pre-emptive strike. If you just kind of hope it'll go away, you're asking for trouble.


lrhall41

Submitted by Virginia-Legal-Defense on Thu, 03/23/2006 - 07:52

( Posts: 260 | Credits: )


Yes, creditors are not abided by fdcpa. But I think, there is no harm in sending them letters, especially when you have arranged some payment plan already. But referring to FDCPA won't help you here.

I have heard that good creditors often honor such requests from their consumers. Keep us posted.


lrhall41

Submitted by stanley on Thu, 03/23/2006 - 11:40

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No, and you'd still have the burden of proof to show that they were calling for an improper purpose (of course they're going to say they only called to collect money legitimately owed to them). However, if you can meet that burden, then your loss of income would be a basis for an award of a judgment for monetary damages.


lrhall41

Submitted by Virginia-Legal-Defense on Thu, 03/23/2006 - 14:13

( Posts: 260 | Credits: )


iloveteaching - something that may work - i simply told HR that some of my banking/personal info was 'stolen' when I purchased something off of the internet. I told them I had been receiving strange calls on my cell phone and they may have gotten ahold of my work # as well, and if they do call the office, to just ignore/hang up on them. They were really supportive and it kind of saved me from having to explain getting in the pdl mess...


lrhall41

Submitted by on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 12:54

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It's great that they were supportive, but one thing troubles me here. I wouldn't recommend lying about the reasons for these calls. Don't tell them the reason if you don't feel comfortable and definately it's great that they hung up on the PDL's, but I don't know if I would feel right about lying.


lrhall41

Submitted by kscornell on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 20:35

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I know it's not the best thing to lie about taking out these loans, but when these places are going to lie to your coworkers and tell them that you are about to be arrested by the police for theft and fraud, I think it's a decent solution to avoiding some of the embarrassment. It's not ideal, and it's a choice each person has to make for themselves whether or not they should lie about their situation.

I know it can be very embarrassing admitting to gossipy coworkers that you took out a bunch of payday loans and can't pay them back. You will never be looked at the same. I know that I probably would've gotten fired if my employer found out about my situation from a payday loan company telling them the police were coming. But I also "lucked" out in that I had another major situation going on in my life and my employer and all the employees knew to not tell anyone that i even worked there. So when the payday loan companies called, they were just told I didn't work there. But that didn't stop them! One called about 20 times a day for about 2 months. My company ended up filing harassment charges against them.


lrhall41

Submitted by goudah2424 on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 21:06

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I agree with KYSIDE. I don't know how I would have felt about lying to my employer. If the truth came out anyway, it could make matters worse. I've seen it happen in different circumstances. I actually talked to my bosses about it and they were very understanding. They had my back so to speak and I really appreciated that. Now, you don't have to go tell them everything but don't outright lie. I was lucky that I didn't work with gossipy people. You would be surprised at how understanding some people can be. I told my payroll department that I entered into a debt consolidation program and not to honor any voluntary wage assignments. It was the truth but I didn't go into a lot of detail. If you are getting harassing calls at work, demand they stop from the lender. Write, call, fax, e-mail, whatever you have to do. You can't just sit and wait for them to come in. I learned that lesson the hard way. Good luck!


lrhall41

Submitted by Cow & Chicken on Sat, 06/30/2007 - 05:58

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