Two of my Sears accounts were purchased and placed with NAFS

After they contact you by phone, they are suppossed to contact you via mail. When they do, send them a debt validation letter, certified, return receipt.

Keep copies of all correspondence for your records,also...Good Luck..KAren

As far as them taking so long, I had a CA trying to collect on a medical bill for my son about 7-10 years afterward, and after it was paid in full.

how about you people pay ur damn bills, THEN YOU WOULDN"T GET HARASSED...dumbasses

For any of you out there who are getting harrassing phone calls and you do NOT owe any money, or they are looking for a person who is NOT you, all you have to do is start reporting the calls to the FTC. Call your local phone company ask them how you report harrassing phone calls. They'll give you a phone number to call to report the harrassing calls.

Also, usually you can enter a code to automatically record the last phone number that called you. It's usually a command like *XX (similar to doing *69 or *82 or *67). This simply marks in a database the phone number and date and time that they're calling you from. Once there are at least 3 calls in a certain time frame from the same phone number, the agency then has the ability to assist you in stopping the harrassing calls. It's really not that hard to take care of. Ask your local phone company for help.

Also, if you answer the phone and they ask for someone other than YOU, you can and you must tell them that they are to STOP calling you for this other person. They HAVE to stop calling, by law (and usually they do stop calling). YOU are not responsible for any other person's debt, so they cannot call you looking for someone else (unless you keep letting them).

If they are looking for YOU, but you KNOW you do not owe them money, then demand that they stop calling or you'll report this as harrassment. They usuallly stop this way as well. However, if they insist that you do owe them money, then tell them they MUST send all debt verification to you immediately or you will consider this to be harrassment. If they don't respond in writing with debt verification (usually within 30 days), then they have no case against you (and they know it, and they'll usually stop calling you accordingly). If they send you "proof" that you owe them money, then they can continue to call you as you determine if you really owe them or if you want to fight them in court, etc. You can request that they do NOT call you at work, and you can request specifically that they do not call you more than once a month if you simply do not have funds to pay them.

I simply don't put up with this kind of crap. I don't have any outstanding debts right now other than my mortgage, car payment, and school loans, so that helps. But when I get stupid phone calls of any kind, I generally make the callers' lives hell if I can. It works, and it's really not that much effort. Just simply do not put up with it.

But you HAVE to tell them these things as they apply: that they're calling the wrong number, that they're asking for someone you do not know or are not responsible for, that YOU do NOT owe them money (they MUST prove otherwise), not to call you at work, not to call more than once a month if you owe but have no funds, to remove you from their call list, etc. etc. Just answer the phone and tell them!! Good luck.

Jack Black, #53, you're a moron. Some of these people don't even owe anyone any money. Get your facts straight before you go insulting people here, a**hole. Try reading the article in the NY Times last week about collections agencies trying to sue people who NEVER even owed them money!!!!

Your local TV station or Newspaper probably has a consumer action show or column. Contact them and and see if they can help. The consumer action column in my local newspaper has helped people with crooked collection agencies like NAFS. A friend of mine was helped by a local TV station over a dispute with a phone company.
Here are some other news outlets to contact. I would enjoy seeing Mr Lynch or whatever fake name he is using trying to hide from the cameras. Since NAFS insists on calling the wrong phone number eventually they will harass somebody that can do something about the calls.
ABC News Nightline
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/
CBS 60 minutes
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/contact-information-08-07-1998/
Contact for NBC news
http://www.nbc.com/contact/general
Report every phone call you get to the Do Not Call List
Caller: Low life crooks

kIuOqW

We had a Sears account that was sold to LVNV, and they are great to work with!! These other people are associated with a fraudulent company based out of Corona California under the name of National Filing Services. I would contact Sears and tell these other people to take a hike!!! Don't pay anything nor agree to anything with them!!!! A legitimate company is willing to work with you and provide you with the appropriate documentation to back them up.