on contacting employer

Your employer is the same as any third party--and the FDCPA is very specific on what they can ask a third party. First of all, they can only contact that particular third party one time, and they can only do so for the purpose of trying to locate you. They CANNOT continue to call your employer, they CANNOT identify themselves as a debt collector, and they CANNOT inform your employer that they are calling to collect on a debt. They CANNOT discuss any of the details of the alleged debt with your employer.

Keep in mind, calling your employer as I have stated above, is not the same thing as calling that company trying to speak to you. If they call your HR department, your supervisor, if they call and ask for ANYONE that is not you, then they are calling for a third party.

they contacted me at work and asked for my social. they told me that they had purchased my debt... i refused to give them my social. they then faxed over to HR (on attorney letterhead) requesting to know my salary, social security number and employment history. there is no judgment against me.

HR gave me the fax and gave them no information.

i forgot to add that i immediately sent certified return receipt mail a request for debt validation because they would not even say what the debt was for. that was on january 26 and i have not received anything written from them.

i did get one call from nco (not an attorney office) asking me again for the last 4 digits of my social before they could tell me the nature of the call. i refused. they hung up.

i got a second call asking for the same information and i again refused...have not heard back from them. for the record i only have two bad debts...one i got dismissed with prejudice and one i got dismissed without prejudice. it just did not make sense to me to pay a junk debt collector when the original creditor had already blighted my credit by charging them off.

OK, they can ask for whatever info they like, but they cannot imply by doing so that anything is happening if it isnt. For example, if they sent a letter on an attorney's letterhead, and made a very official-sounding request or demand for information, it is possible that it MIGHT be taken as an implication that legal action has been started. At this point, they dont have any reason to need this information.

Something else that I would consider informing them in very firm words--they are pushing the line on your SSN in my opinion, since federal law does not allow any entity other than a government agency to demand your SSN. They demanded it from you, you refused to provide it. Then they demanded it from your employer. They are pushing their luck as far as I am concerned. Besides, if they had legitimately purchased a debt that's really yours, they shouldnt need to go to lengths to demand your SSN--if they cannot properly identify you from the documentation they purchased, then thats their malfunction, not yours. Here's another interesting situation--they have given you some info about this supposed debt, I am guessing, am I right? Well, if they havent even identified you as the actual debtor for this debt, then they are treading on illegal ground when they discuss a debt with you anyways. They are taking a chance of third party disclosure if they are telling you about a debt that turned out to be someone else's.

What you need to do at this point is this--send these morons a certified letter, informing them that they cannot reach you at work, that they are only to contact you via mail, and that they have already violated the FDCPA with this little stunt--and that you officially dispute this debt and demand validation of it. Remind them that according to federal law they cannot continue with any collection efforts until they provide you with proper, legal validation from the original creditor. This includes your credit reports--check all 3 to see if they reported already.

When I said they already broke the law, I was referring to third party contact. The FDCPA ONLY allows them to contact a third party to try to get information on your location. Once they have already located a way to contact you, which they already did since they called you before they sent that fax to HR, then they are NO LONGER allowed to make any third party contact about this debt, unless you approve it first.

Make sure to send that letter by certified mail, return receipt requested....so you can prove they received it.

what is the name of the attorney's office?

Also, since you already sent a DV letter, then they are breaking the law with every collection effort they take--calling you, the fax to HR, any reporting or updating on your credit files...all of it.

To be honest, I would not be that worried about verifying the last four of your SSN--by law they must identify you as the person they are looking for before they can discuss the matter. So, what you need to do is to tell them to state the last four that they have, that way you are not giving up anything they dont already have. If their last 4 doesnt match yours, then simply tell them so, but if it does, then be honest--this may be identity theft and you are better off knowing why they are calling.

OF course, all of that now changes because I wasnt aware earlier that you already sent a DV letter. They have now broken the law in several ways.....here's what I have personally done in the past on things like this.

1--they call, they ask to verify the last 4 of your SSN.

2--tell them to state the last 4 they have and you will either confirm or deny.

3--if you confirm, then let them tell you what they are going to say--it will most likely be a "you owe this money, how would you like to take care of that" call.

4--if thats the call, then inform them that you requested validation of this debt months ago, that you have USPS proof that they got your DV letter, and that they are once again in direct violation of the FDCPA. Inform them that until they provide you with proper legal validation, FROM THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR, then they had better not call you one more time or send any more faxes--that you will file suit if you have to in order to protect your rights. Then, inform them that you are still waiting for the required-by-law dunning letter that was supposed to arrive within 5 days of inital contact. Then, end the call.

Dont speak to them on the phone any further if they continue to call, except to say "you are again violating the FDCPA, now either validate the debt or get lost". Also, what state do you live in? I would definitely recommend recording their calls if possible...

i live in ohio...i sent the validation letter the day of the fax...i have since received two calls with no validation. I did ask them to tell me the last four digits they had on file i would confirm if correct...they would not tell me.

are they collecting for a payday loan by any chance? i know they are horrible with calling people's jobs and invading their privacy.

no i have never had a payday loan. the name of the supposed attorneys were hayt hayt and landau. anyone know how go about suing for fair debt violations when they are in pensylvania and i am in ohio?

oh, okay - i just thought i would ask :)
i have heard of those attorneys (if they are attorneys, i am not sure, i just have heard that name before) but do not know the answer to your question. hang tight, someone will be around.