Allied Interstate calling but I have no debts

Just telling them to stop calling you is not going to do any good. You have to send them a letter requesting that they cease and desist contacting you by telephone. Send the letter via certified mail/return receipt requested so you will have proof of the letter being received and signed for. If you continue to get calls after your letter was received, the collector is violating the fdcpa and can be fined $1,000 for each violation. If they call after your letter is received, start keeping a log of the times they call, who you speak to, etc.

As for allied interstate, send them a letter requesting that they validate any debt they are trying to collect from you. State that your records indicate that you do not have any outstanding debts, therefore you are requesting the amount they are trying to collect, who the original creditor is, proof that they can collect on this debt, and how they came up with the figure they say you owe. You can also request, as above, that they cease and desist contacting you by telephone, and all future communications should be made to you in writing via USPS mail. Send this letter certified/return receipt as well.

Have you checked your credit reports lately? If not, it would be advisable, to see if Allied has listed anything negative on there.

I have checked my credit report and there is nothing there that shows them or any other company being owed money. It has been over a month so I should check again.

These are automated calls. The calls just states there is a debt they want to talk to me about and they leave a toll free number. No I have not returned the calls.

I thought I had read that automated calls were illegal.

I have just started a log, but a number of calls won't be logged unless I can figure out how to get my called Id to list the old calls. Each call writes over the old call from the same number. Other then the date and time of the call I have no other information to record. I also have started to report the calls on the no call websites. It may not do any good but they have no grounds to be calling me so I figure it was worth a shot.

This is a great site, I have found some wonderful information, thank you so much.

I would love to hear any other suggestions anyone has.

What you are getting are dialer calls...nothing illegal about them.

Send a certified letter if you truly have no account won't do anything...if your name doesnt match up they will throw out the letter.

You were probably listed as a reference. Since you have no debt, why not just call and put an end to the calls?? It is really quite simple.

I'm suprised you see this as being simple. No one should ever respond to a call like this and provide personal information. I don't see it as being 'simple'. I will not respond to automated calls and be asked all kinds of personal questions. That leave me open for all sorts of problems with no protection, because I called them. You also have no idea where that call is going, its a common scam to get information for credit card fraud.

If someone wants to talk to me then they better have a person on the other end of the phone.

They may not have my name in the system but they have my number in it. Do you really believe they can't look up records based on that?

All over the site I keep reading about doing everything in writting to protect yourself... great idea! But there are other ways people need to protect themself and one it by not calling when they get automated messages. You could be calling China for all you know.

Can you post the number to see if someone here is familiar with it?
It very well could be a scam or it could be someone looking for your sister.

[quote]I'm suprised you see this as being simple. No one should ever respond to a call like this and provide personal information. I don't see it as Quote:

I'm not sure what "OP" stands for, but I do believe its me. I do answer my phone, I don't call numbers left by automated messages.

I have told places before they were not to contact us but they kept calling.

People aren't paranoid about 'returning' calls. A person did not leave a message, a person is never on the line. People are protecting themself and their personal information. Weather I owe anyone anything does not matter. If its a matter of only having to provide the phone number that is not a problem, they already have that. I will not give them information about me to 'see if I am in the system'. That is where the problems start, thats what the scams are counting on... people giving them personal information. They then have all they need to rob me blind, and done with information I gave them.... Do you understand what I am saying?

OP = Original Poster. he person who started a given thread on a discussion forum. In this case, that's you, bub.

If they keep calling after a verbal C/D [cease and desist], send them a CD letter. Certified mail, return receipt requested. They have to sign for it, and you get the receipt back as proof.

And yes, I do see what you're saying about safeguarding your personal information. I operate the same way. It's up to them to prove I'm the person they want, not the other way around.

I'm with Zing on this one. If he were to call back the CA would start asking him to provide information so they can verify him before they will even speak with him. So I wouldn't want to call some 800 number left on my answering machine asking for a return call, then have them start grilling me for personal information. No way is that going to happen. I absolutely agree with UncleWulf in that the CA should have to prove to me they even need to be calling me.

Besides which, Allied should have sent something in writing within 5 days of the initial phone call. Have you ever received anything, Zing? If not, that would indicate, to me at least, Allied either has the wrong number or is calling a third party looking for information, not to mention a violation of the fdcpa if it is actually Zing's debt and they never sent anything in writing. It also seems some CA's tend to treat third parties as surrogate debtors and continue to harass them if they are unable to locate contact information for that debtor. The FDCPA states they are allowed to contact a third party to verify contact information, not ask for contact information, tell the third party why they are calling, ask the third party to act as a messenger service, etc.

So, no I would definitely not go out of my way to call them back. I would, however, answer the phone when they call and advise them to stop calling, then ask for a mailing address and send them a C&D letter, sending it CMRRR.

Actually, I have received automated calls like Zing is describing. One company was calling 2 or 3 times a day. I was getting fed up, so I did call back. I told them that I did not recognize their company name and was receiving multiple calls daily. They wanted to know my name and I would not give it. They asked me to provide phone number, which is fine, as mine is unlisted/non-published, so they couldn't pull my name that way. After providing my phone number, they asked if I was "so-and-so". I told them I was not, that I believed the person they wanted used to have my number before the phone company assigned it (I have received numerous collection calls from various collectors since getting this #). They apologized and said they would remove the number from their records, and I never received another call from them.

So, just providing a phone number should enable most companies that have an automated dialer to pull up who they are trying to reach, and you don't have to give your personal info.

The autodialer software I'm familiar with [I'm in IT, it's used a lot with helpdesks and the like] sends account data to the agent actually doing the talking via screen at the time he takes the call. Part of that data is the person's name and phone number.

Proof of concept: MRS associates was calling here a bit ago, looking for my wife, by her maiden name. Automated calls out the wazoo, all the time. OK, I finally got enough and took the call. The guy wanted to know was I [my wife's name]. I told him I was her husband, and he'd just have to make do with that. Then he asks if this number was [my number]. Sho 'nuff! He already had that info, right there in front of him.

Here is something I sometimes find funny on a C&D letter or even a call in when we have the wrong # or that they know the person and they have moved on. They call or write in demanding that we stop calling them but simply refuse to give us the # we were calling to remove the #.

Calling them with a # they already haven't isn't providing them with information they don't already have. Call 'em up tell them to remove your # that the person they are looking for doesn't live there and ask for an address to send them a written C&D with your # on it. You don't even have to give them your name.

OK, I guess I understand about giving them the phone number not being a problem. It would seem they already have it, so giving it to them shouldn't be an issue.

That's all I would provide, though.

Good point, FYI, if you do send a letter asking them to stop calling your phone number, make sure you at least put the phone number they are calling on the letter. Some people probably get so irritated, and so caught up in composing the letter, they forget that one important detail. If the CA doesn't know the phone number you want them to stop calling, and you don't put it in the letter, they cannot look it up. Looking by your name isn't going to help, if you are the third party they are calling, as the file is probably listed under the debtor's name.

Tiffany99

Yours is a great example of how a "stop calling me" request should go, when made to a CA after they have called an incorrect number.

Doesn't always work out that way though.

My mother was getting phone calls from a CA for some guy she, and the rest of her family, had never heard of. She answered the phone one day, when they called, and they asked for him again. She advised them she had never heard of this man and he doesn't live here. The CA all but called her a liar and advised her number had been given as his residential phone number. My mother has had her phone number for many, many years, so it's not a case of the phone number being recently assigned to her. She advised them of this, and asked them to stop calling.

They didn't.

That's when I became involved.

Needless to say, it has been a couple of years now, and that CA has never called back.

Good job, Ron!