Debt collection is something that everyone has to deal with. Case in point: a debt collector once left a message on my mom’s answering machine, where I had not lived for eleven years. My credit report was squeaky clean—I checked—but apparently there is another Sam Glover out there with worse luck.
Whenever you get a message from someone about “an important business matter,” it is most likely a debt collector trying to get in touch with you. When this happens, you should return the call, but be careful. If the debt is not yours, you want to avoid further calls, not to end up in the debt collector’s Rolodex.
When you call back, use Skype, a pay phone, or caller ID blocking. The debt collector may not believe you when you tell them you are not the person they are looking for, and you do not want to give them an easy way to keep bugging you. It is a good idea to record the phone call, if you can.
The debt collector should attempt to determine whether you are the person they are looking for. They may ask if you have ever lived at a certain address or had a certain phone number. If you are not the person they are trying to contact, this should clear it up. Ask them to remove any information that is yours from their account. Do not give them any information they do not already have.
If you are the person they are trying to call, take careful notes, and record all conversations. Get the collector’s address or fax number, and follow up your phone call with a written request for verification of the debt. Once you have the evidence in front of you, you can decide how to proceed (and you can learn more about your options).
(photo: darkmatter)
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Every time you get a message from someone about “an important business matter,” it is most likely a FDCPA violation.
In Foti v. NCO Fin. Sys., Inc., No. 04-CV-707(KMK), 2006 WL 779774 (S.D. N.Y. Mar. 25, 2006), the court held that a recorded message left on an answering system was a communication in connection with the collection of a debt.
To comply with Section 807(11), in all communications subsequent to the initial communication with a consumer (the Demand Letter), a debt collector must disclose the communication is from a debt collector.
If the debt is your or not, and the answering system message does not disclose the name of the collection agency, 1) Save the recording. 2) Contact a consumer attorney and file a FDCPA suit for the statutory damages.
I enjoy the Caveat Emptor Blog and appreciate the hard work on behalf of consumers.
CallerID blocking WILL NOT work if you call them back on a 800, 877, or 888 number. Eat the toll charges and call them from a landline phone, and hit *67 first. That will block your number from display. Skype, Yahoo Voice, and other VOIP methods are also great, IF they are not your primary number.
Just on another note if collectors are calling you (sometimes) this means your SS# is on the “real debtor’s” Credit Bureau. You did the right thing by checking your’s ASAP. Just stay on top of it you don’t want your credit dinged because of some deadbeat with the same name.
I’ve been googling like crazy what to do about our situation. My family has been getting constant calls from a debt collection agency about a man who bares the same name as my dad, but that is all. The address, SSN, and birthdate they have differs greatly.
This has been communicated several times over the phone (but not sure if they believe us), but nowadays it has gotten so that we try to ignore the calls as much as possible since they’re basically the equivalent of telemarketer calls.
All they have is a name and a number so that has made us reluctant to send a dispute letter (as then they will have our address as well). I’ve been searching all over the web of what to do without disclosing private info OR switching our phone number, but it has been frustrating. We don’t care about lawsuits or anything, we just want the constant calls to stop. Apparently, they never give me enough response time to tell them to stop calling after it is confirmed that my dad is not the one they’re looking for. What to do..
Hi Anch: We don’t give advice on specific cases here, but it sounds like it is time for you to call an attorney. I recommend looking for one using the lawyer database that the National Association of Consumer Advocates maintains.
The hassles of mistaken identities and wrong numbers…. unfortunately, with delinquencies on the rise, the likelihood of getting these types of calls is also on the rise. Being evasive and uncooperative with a collector flags you as a “less than honest” debtor. I, as both a collector and a consumer, understand that you are frustrated with the calls, of which there are probably many — and not just from my company. Give me a moment of your time and I will be happy to remove your phone number from my company’s database. But remember that there are probably many search engines that associate your phone number with the person we are trying to contact. I’ve talked to folks that have been getting calls for the wrong person for close to five years… the calls eventually peter out but they never seem to be completely gone.
Another thing… if a company calls looking for “John Smith” and the phone line is registered to someone other than “John Smith” you can verbally cease this company from calling you again. Make sure to remind the caller that another call will be an FDCPA violation. And document, document, document.
I work for a collection agency and I work on a dialer system. Now I was wondering what can I do because I have no control of calling wrong number after wrong number, even though it has been noted in the system as a wrong number. Isn’t his a violation of the FDCPA and cant I be responsible for this if a consumer takes legal actions. I have brought this information up to my supervisor, and even other supervisors. What can I do because I have no control over calling a wrong number again?
I’d jab nyself in the eye with a sharp stick if I couldn’t update records. I spend a fair amount of my day talking to people that have been assigned phone numbers that used to belong to someone that left a lot of business hanging if you know what I mean. Damn straight, those misdials are FDCPA violations – hope the payouts don’t come out of your check. Here’s wishing my number was in your system! Mention the glitch to either your system administrator or compliance officer – but I’m guessing they already know about the issue. If it costs them enough in settlements, they will eventually fix it. Or not.
My son is continually receiving credit bureau calls on his cell phone his number apparently previously belonged to someone who has credit issues. My son is 14 and his name is not Kenneth. I have already stopped one agency but they sold the account to NARS, another agency and they call two or three times a day while he is in class. Is there anything I can do short of changing his cell phone number?
Please seek out a consumer lawyer in your state, who can help you understand your son’s options. The lawyer referral database at naca.net is a good place to start.
I empathize with those that receive unwanted calls – I’ve gotten them too and unfortunately getting a new phone number can be a bit of a crap shoot… there’s always the risk that the number was previously owned by someone with less than stellar credit… the fastest, most efficient way to have your number removed is to return the call and explain the situation — that you’re not the guy they’re looking for. Don’t wait two weeks and ten calls to complain… I’m not going to say all “phone representatives” will be quick to respond to your plight, but most should be. Honestly, I (and most other collectors) have way too many accounts to work and don’t have the extra time to spend calling the wrong person.
All the, “ask them to stop nicely” advice would be nice if it worked. But it doesn’t appear to have worked in my case. AT&T gave me a number when I moved into a new house. After eight months of playing nice, getting multiple calls a day, most automated, nicely calling back and reporting the problem (nothing matches me but the phone number), they haven’t slowed at all. And I know that the same already-nicely-informed companies continue to call (they say they will stop, and then call again shortly thereafter). And a few collectors are vulgar or threatening. I could play lawyer-games, but I think only the lawyers would win that too. Fortunately, I called AT&T and asked for a new number given this situation, and I should have a new number, at no charge, tonight.
About five years ago, in this same city, I had a similar situation at an apartment. When SBC (since bought by AT&T) gave me a new number then, it was miraculously quiet! I didn’t even have normal telemarketers.
I’m crossing my fingers now, hoping the new number works out better.
I’ve been getting calls for Michael Grohner for at *least* 6 years. 7am, 8am, 9pm, 5 times a day, and they just do NOT let up! MCM.. lol… Fingerhut of all people. But what is really odd about this is they stop for a year, or two and then start up within a week of each other… first one call, then 3.. then 5 a day. All Unavailable. I had to start telling them I knew Michael, and could I get their name and number I’d have him call them back, or else they will not identify themselves. They immediately hang up if I don’t put Michael on the phone. This is worse than a murder investigation, these people REALLY take this seriously. People, is it really right to inconvenience a person for YEARS over $500 or so ?! I won’t tell them MY last name, it’s none of their business, but it’s not Grohner, nor was it ever. Next time I’ll try the advice above: Make sure to remind the caller that another call will be an FDCPA violation. When I did reach MCM, they were EXTREMELY rude to me, and hung up when I mentioned this, as if it’s my fault I’m not the person they are looking for ! I do have documentation of this going on for years, because I had outrageous phone bills from previous cell phone usage answering multiple calls per week thinking it was my children. Really… do they actually collect money with these tactics? If I WAS him, I think I’d just change my number ! lol… a little common sense goes a long way…
You should be very careful about recording phone calls — laws differ from state to state, but if it you somehow end up in the legal system and it wasn’t done correctly, they may be able to file countersuit for entrapment.
@Stellar: There is no such thing as a countersuit for entrapment. However, you are correct that recording is not legal in every state. This is why anyone seeking to record should follow my guide, which includes information on recording in all 50 states.
@imadebtcollector – As an IT person who has worked with telephone people, I can tell you that most outbound call centers do NOT work from a live database. Your computer screen probably has that live access. However, the auto-dialer is working from batches generated from computer processes run perhaps as long as a month ago. A week might be more likely in better run places. Most, if not all, auto-dialer system software was originally designed for telemarketing where batches always have been the norm. That’s part of why the law that established the NO-CALL list for telemarketing has such long lead times for newly added numbers to be effective. The collection business needs different software that has direct database access in some form. But that also creates a big security nightmare when any such access is automated. This all costs money and everyone is short of that right now.
I sympathize with everyone having this problem. I have been receiving calls and letters from debt collectors for someone with the same name as me that lives (or used to anyway) in the same city and has never seen fit to pay her bills, from student loan to cell phone and everything in between. I know more about her poor credit than she probably does. I have dealt with this on and off for at least 10 years (seems like forever) with the latest letter from a debt collector just this past weekend. A word to the wise – do not list your name in the phone book. I found out from one debt collection agency that my phonebook listing was how they ‘tagged’ me, just hoping I was the right person. I have dropped a few “another call / letter from your agency and I will contact my lawyer regarding a harrassment lawsuit” hints and several of these places finally took me out of their database. A new one crops up now and then, but not with the frequency they used to. (That said, I’ve probably jinxed myself!) Also – check your credit history with the “big 3.” I had to have several items removed that were hers, not mine, because the information wasn’t checked closely enough before it was put on my report. (One was a $10K credit card default from a store I’d never heard of.) You’d think eventually people would STOP giving her credit of any sort. In the meantime, I will keep pulling the lawyer card, contacting places when needed, and PRAY that my name is removed from these debt collectors records. BTW – I don’t normally condone being intentionally rude to anyone, but if these places keep calling, then I say – go for it. I have done it a time or two, and it seems that’s all that gets through to some of them.
Here they are again!! Calls starting up for Michael Grohner, and Laura Grohner (or Laura Mexico). If you’re a collection agent and you have a telephone number who’s last 4 digits start with 344X…. you’re calling the WRONG person!! My last post was on this website 2/3/09, and here it is November, I’ve started receiving “absent number” and “unavailable” calls, today a message with an 800 number was left 800-947-2987 for cbcs ? collection agency. Either Michael and Laura Grohner are still out there using my phone number, or these people are calling a number which is over 10 years old, to people who have *obviously left the building* per say. They moved, they changed their number! Gone! Vamoosh! Happy Holidays everyone…
cheers….
mystic insight
I am so sick of DRS Technology they call my house 2 to 3 times aday looking for everybody except me an the tooth fairy. I have warned them 5 times here they are as i speak calling my phone. Please help me sue them somebody I would split the profit 50/50.
Daniel, see the lawyer referral database in this comment.
There are debt collectors calling my house non stop for a person who does not live there. I have told them numerous times that they have a wrong number and need to remove my number from their records. They tell me that unless I give them the number for this person they will continue to call me. I don’t have the number that they are looking for. They are verbally abusive to me and accuse me of not paying MY bills, which is absolutely insane. I have filed complaints with the BBB just to find out that other people have the same problem. Now MRS Associates started calling my cell phone. I’ve had the number for over a year and they are still looking for a person who is not me! Please help!!
I too get several calls per day addressed to the previous owner of my new cellphone (our names sound nothing alike), so I feel the pain of many above.
I guess simply telling them ‘I’m not that guy’ is not enough from their point of view. What if that guy pretends he’s not just to get out of debt? There should be some mechanism to justly, respectfully, and securely verify this and then take action to remove the record before it’s resold.
Two possibilities: (in general, of course devils in details)
- require by law that collectors have to have an office in the city/region they are calling you. Then require that you can show up in person with valid state ID to demonstrate you’re not them and get the records expunged.
- set up a 3rd party website that moderates the collection’s claims (that said NAME is associated with this NUMBER) and provides a mechanism for you to challenge/change that without risking giving your information out.
Why would collectors go along? 1) if it’s law 2) knowing it’s the wrong record would make them look for the right record, probably increasing the returns.
Good luck to everyone who’s experiencing this. Thanks, Sam, for the post!
Moving to our new home about three years ago we set up phone service. Shortly thereafter we started getting phone calls from a collection agency looking for a Michael with a completely different last name (obviously the previous owner of this number). They kept harassing me with many calls a day, and I kept telling them they have the wrong number. Then they ask the most ignorant question of all, do you know Michael ***********?. They said, they will take the number out of their system, that was years ago and I’m still getting calls at least once a day. All this over a $125 Verizon debt from this deadbeat. I got caller id about a month ago and purchased a Panasonic DECT 6.0 talking caller id phone from Radio Shack. It blocks certain numbers that you program into it and blocks all numbers that come up “blocked caller, unknown name, out of area, unknown number, private caller” you get the picture. They called once with my new phone system and immediately got disconnected after the phone only rang once. They have not called back again. So far it’s been a month of peace and quiet (except for people I want to hear from).
My husband & I have tried the “polite request” approach and it hasn’t worked with a certain company, whose initials I’ll use: AI. AI has been calling us for over a year, but each time they come up with a different wrong debtor!! Eg, first it was Sean Smith, then Sherry Smith,..then it became Susan Smith…then Sharika Smith. You get the idea. Each time we’d tell them nobody by that name lived here, it wasn’t our debt, etc. Each time we assured they’d remove our # from their database, blah blah. Finally my husband was not so nice and figured out how to contact the bigwig at AI, who issued him an apologetic letter. But then the calls for different Smiths started again. I’ve since learned AI was sued by the Minnesota AG’s office for this sort of thing. My husband is trying to locate the bigwig’s letter; we might try the Ohio AG route. Would love other ideas, tho.
My husband and I moved to a new home and got a new phone number about 4 years ago. We have since been hounded by calls for someone named Ena Sulani. We have returned every piece of mail to collectors and have let all debt collection callers know that they have the wrong number. I have kept a log of who has called, and no one seems to be calling more than once or twice. There are just SO MANY! About a year ago, a court clerk tried to give me a subpoena for this woman. I told him we didn’t know her and he had the wrong house. At 11pm that night, the sheriff showed up at our door with the subpoena. When my husband told him the story of the harrassment we’ve been having, the officer told him it was our problem to sort out. Today, a Marshal banged on my door so hard it terrified me, so of course I didn’t go to the door. He left his card in my door with a note saying he was looking for Ena Sulani. I am scared and at a total loss over what to do.
Meg, the same thing is happening to me for a woman named Una Gross. I think she might be dead, or something, because even her friends call her up at 1:00 a.m. Anyway, all of this started last August (2009) when my husband and I bought our first home. I had a lot of problems with recieving mail for people who used to live there. Then I got a home phone. I got Una’s previous number. Out of nowhere, I started getting massive amounts of mail at my home for her, tons of phone calls every day, and so on and so forth. I calmly spoke with these people who were calling, because I know patience is a two-way street. Most of these collectors told me it could be up to 90 days for the number to be entirely out of their system, so I went along with it. Then my husband and I got cell phones. Somehow, I started getting phone calls to my cell phone for Una Gross, and so did he. It got so bad that he shut down his line completely, because they kept calling him even when he changed his phone number. I think they bought our address or something – because they kept getting our new information when we would change it. Everyone calls for her, from American Kidney Foundation (a charity people donate to), to Citicard, to Allied Waste (trash services). My husband and I have since split up, and I lost my job. I just want the calls and harassment to stop… but I sort of need a home phone (I got rid of the cell phone because I couldn’t afford it). I pay my bills on time. Granted, I only have electric, gas, mortgage, sewer, home phone, tv, and internet… but that’s plenty for me. I wish these calls would stop for her. I do not have the money to hire a lawyer and sue these companies because I am living off my savings account right now until I can find a new job, and I’ve got two little mouths to feed. Does anyone have a suggestion?
(I am also getting subpoenas for her in the mail, and I’m having people come by my house for her. Also, something I forgot to mention – Allied Waste gave me the information that she lives on a street somewhat nearby. I know where that is, but why would they give me this information? Sounds like a breech of security to me.) I have opened the White Pages and sent a letter out to every “U. Gross” and “Una Gross” in the phone book, kindly asking that “If you are the Una Gross who used to have phone number [my number], would you kindly update your records with Allied Waste, Citicard, and a few of your friends? I am a single mother who is constantly being harassed by these companies and many more for everything from outstanding debt to AKF donations. Thank you very much.” But that did not work, either. Every time a friend of hers calls I say, “No, I’m not Una but if you ever see her, would you please tell her to update her phone number, because I’m a single mother getting constant calls for her.” Most people usually say they’re sorry and that they will tell her when they see her. So, either she’s dead and these people don’t know it, or she simply does not care. What to do?
Kristin, try calling a consumer lawyer in your state. Most should take a case like yours on contingency.