on the order of harrassing calls

Randomly Useful Information:

So last night, I got a hangup call from Statewide Appea on Caller ID. Huh, I said, to myself, because talking to myself is a lot of fun. Why do I not recognize this number? Since I know the main lines to appeals. Since I work in the same agency. Long story short, I checked to see if this *was* a state affiliate. It wasn't, etc, now to the point.

http://800notes.com/

For anyone who gets weird calls, collection calls, hangup calls, this might be a very good resource to track down who/what, or at least, that it exists. It also pointed me to the fact that at least two cards I hold are with people who have a very bad habit of calling constantly in the mistaken belief you owe them money well after pay off. Huh.

Vaguely related to this, because this site is my new place to boggle (claming you work for the Federal government? Oh Collection Agency of Stupidity, not a good idea), ran across this:

Harassing Calls from Debt Collectors - What You Need to Know

Federal Site:
Fair Debt Collection with a list of rights of customers. It also recommends checking out your state's specific guidelines on harassing calls from collection agencies, since some are more restrictive or less so than those listed here.

Comments

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the information. I wish I'd had it a couple of years ago.

We had a dispute with one of the agencies providing caregivers for my husband. One of their employees had stolen money (which we reported to the police) and there was disagreement as to the hourly rate. I talked to the billing department at the home office and believed everything was straightened out. A couple of months later, I got a call, supposedly from a lawyer hired by the company, trying to 'collect on our debt' with the threat to sue us and ruin our credit if we didn't pay.

After discussing it with my husband, when they called back, I told them that I felt we'd dealt honorably with the company and to go ahead and sue us or ruin our credit, if they could. They tried to negotiate and I simply said that I wasn't interested. That turned out to be the end of it.

I don't have the number anymore, but it would have been interesting to see if it was among the numbers at the site you linked to.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Dear God. *twitches* That is-gah. No words at all. Just random digust with some people. *sighs*

[tex.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for that link. I'll be using it at least twice a week for the foreseeable future.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I have a short list I've used it to check with too.

[morudai.livejournal.com]

Very interesting information, thank you. Since I've been trying to straighten out my credit, I've gotten some weirdo debt collecting calls. One to be careful of is "Laurence Hecker". Several websites describe him as a 'bottom feeder'.

People forget that they have rights even if they have messed up their credit. (which is me)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Geez. Ick.

That site had some *insane* stuff on it from collectors. It's just--no words. Eww.

[cat-77.livejournal.com]

I work in the Bankruptcy department of a fairly well-known bank and we have very strict rules of what we can and cannot say to customers. Some of the stories we hear about other companies, and even our own main collection department are frightening. There are laws, and they need to be followed, and if they are not, both the company and the individual employee can be fined around $5000 per offense by the federal government. For some reason, many places do not feel they need to learn and/or follow these rules. We call those people "stupid" or, alternatively "dumbfucks".

For those unfortunate enough to have to file, read the rules and seriously call your attorney if you're still getting harrassed - that's what you pay him/her for. Even if you haven't filed, if you're getting crap calls, demand to speak to the supervisor - often times they don't know what their employees are up to. It sounds crass, but it can be a training issue. It can just be that the company is full of assholes.