crossova

*found on Creditwrench.com*

18 questions that will stop debt collectors abusive phone calls



Are you being hounded on the phone by debt collectors? If so then the following 18 questions are for you.

They will put an end to their abuse very quickly. When you use them you should always be certain that you demand that they validate the debt and inform them that you dispute the debt and each and every part of it. You should print them out and put them in a plastic sheet protector and keep them near your phone so you can get to them quickly.
You should also tape all of your phone calls with debt collectors and I will also show you how to do that here.
1. What is the name of the company you are calling for?
2. What is their address.
3. What state are they in?
4. What is the zip code?
5. What is the phone number?
6. What is the name of the creditor?
7. What is their address?
8. What state are they in?
9. What is the zip code?
10. What is their phone number?
11. What is the Account number?
12. What is the amount you claim I owe?
13. What is your name? What is your last name?
14. What is your address?
15. What state are you in?
16. What is your zip code?
17. What is your telephone number?
18. What is your Social Security number?

Naturally when you get down to the personal information they are going to want to refuse to give you that information and will claim that they don't have to give you that information. That is when you tell them that they must give it by law because the law says that they have to give full and complete information about the call they are making and since they have already broken the law by calling you in the first place and you want to know where to send their summons to court and you want to be sure that you have the right person on the summons. That will normally get rid of them real quick. If it doesn't then you simply tell them that if they have anything to say to you they need to put it in a letter and send it to you by mail and then hang up on them. If they start screaming at you then you simply scream back at them and don't shut up until they do. Naturally you will not want to take the time to go through all of that at your workplace but if they do get stupid and call you at work and on your cell phone then you simply get their name and the company name and tell them that you are at work and they need to put it in writing and send it to them. But you want to put your home and cell phone numbers on your letters and make it easy for them to break the law. You have to have several violations of the law in order to win the case and you have to build a paper trail of the violations so we want to tempt them to break the law as many times as possible

xepherys

a) How is calling you to collect a debt against the law?

b) How does this apply to cell phones? They recently revoked/recinded the law that prevented even telemarketers from calling cell phones, why, again, would debt collection be different?

c) They are not required by law to give you their social security number and that would never fall under full disclosure. In fact, the required use of your SSN is only legally needed for tax purposes (i.e. - Employment/Income, Banks/Interest, Federal Loans that can reflect on your tax return, etc.). While a credit card company can refuse to give you credit without your SSN (most likely they would), they legally have no need for it (I don't use my real last four). In the end, they have no reason, legally, to give you THEIR SSN, as you are not an institution that will report data on them to the IRS or Social Security Administration.


While I agree that they're a pain, I usually don't answer unknown or concealed numbers (I only have a cell phone). Of course, the easiest way to get rid of nagging debt collectors is to pay your bills. Having gone through bad financial crap in the past and getting ahead of myself financially, I can say, with everything hangin' out, that it's best to not get into that situation. And if you are there, the phone calls are the least of your concerns.

Anexkahn

ya i have to call BS to them being required to provide SSN, and going off on them really isn't going to help much. some of the other advise, about keeping a good paper trail and logs of every contact with them is a great thing to do however.

Its also very important to figure out if you're talking to a debt collection company, or the collections department of your creditor. If they are in the collections department of your creditor it is to your advantage to talk to them. At this point it is more than likely that your account hasnt been charged off yet and you can salvage some of your credit. Almost all credit companies prefer to keep the account and have a payment arrangement (because they can keep acruing interest on the balance). If you're just an asshole to them and refuse to take calls, prohibit them from calling, they're more likely to not work with you and charge off the account as bad debt.

If the person is calling from a debt collection service, chances are the account has been closed, written off, and turned over to them already, so theres not much you can do at that point to salvage your credit other than pay the balance off eventually so it shows up as bad debt, but that it was eventually paid in full. At this stage there are advantages and disadvantages to working with the collections agency. You can set up payment arrangements usually and that will delay further action on their part, but, if you can save up money yourself in a short amount of time (60-90 days) you can approach them with a settlement sum of approximately 60-70% of the balance (sometimes as low as 50%) and they'll usually jump at the chance to close and collect on the account. If you wait to long trying this route tho it could lead to other actions from the debt collector.

Its definitely a distinction you want to find out as to whether the debt collector is with your original creditor, or with a collections agency and whether your account still resides with the creditor or if it has been charged off. IIf it is still with your original creditor do everything in your power to keep it there.

Poppinjay

I have a simple one step plan for this kind of thing.

1. Pay your bills.

__________________
I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

Gatorade Frost

Man, beat me to it.

__________________
I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

Jinn

They regularly make up lists like this for debt collectors and telemarketers, and it's generally garbage. I had people try to use these "lists" on me as a telemarketer, and I didn't have to give them ANY information other than my name, my company, and my reason for calling. Likewise, this is mostly bullshit:

The US THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT

As amended by Public Law 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (Sept. 30, 1996),

only specifies one thing in regard to telephone conversation:

So yes, if they KEEP calling you in a harassing manner, you can remind them that this is against the FDCPA and they can be sued civilly for up to $1,000 (not much, if you ask me).

However, they do not have to disclose any further information than their company, their name, their reason for call, and the debtor who claims you owe a debt. Asking their SSN is a sure-fire way to piss off someone who has access to your credit information. Wise? Probably not. Stupid? Probably.

I third the notion; just pay your debt.

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

amonkie

Actually, this changed with the implementation of the Patriot Act, which requires a SSN in order to for credit to be extended, under any circumstances.

I have been on both sides of the fence both as a debt collector, and working for the Credit department of the biggest bank in the world. When you sign that contract, whatever it is, that is YOU AGREEING to The Terms of Service. If you have a dispute about specific charges, that is a slighly different scenario as that should be documented and followed up on as soon as you notice the problem. If it has gone to a debt collection agency, that means there is a lateness in payments with nothing in dispute - otherwise, in most cases, that particular account would sit in disputes instead.

__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

Smooth23

I worked as a debt collector for awhile, and I have to say that it didn't take long for me to completely zone out to anyone trying to annoy, threaten or yell at me.