Slimey debt collectors

rockfan4 · 09-11-2018, 11:12 AM

A few years ago my stepdaughter ran into some money trouble, and I think she took out a payday loan. She may not have paid it back promptly, but she did pay it back, and she claims her credit report shows no outstanding debt that she is not aware of, just her student loans and her car payment.

A couple years ago she got a new phone in the state she lives in, and got off her mother's plan. I got her old phone and number since it was still under a contract. I liked the number, there were a lot of repeating digits and it was easy to remember and easy to give out. I'd occasionally get calls looking for her, and I'd take down the name and number and forward them to her and she could decide to call them back or not. Some would be from debt collectors, usually robot calls.

Earlier this year I gave up that number, gave up the landline, and ported the landline number to my cell phone. Now I'm getting debt collection calls for her on that number. How the heck did they do that? Did the cell phone provider give them the new number? Can I sue them for harassment? Report them to the FCC?

To be clear, she's never lived at my house, she's stayed a couple days over the holidays, but her legal address has never been here. If I really thought they were legit calls they wouldn't be from a robot, and they wouldn't call from different numbers. Block one and they call from another.

looneybin · 09-11-2018, 11:27 AM

they have to show proof of the debt
no proof? no debt

bmcuscgr94 · bmcuscgr94's Garage

My experience is with an ex DIL, she used our name and old land line home number as a "contact" when she took out a car loan after she divorced my son. She defaulted and the loan company sold the loan to some collection firm because they gave up trying to collect. I would get the robot calls and once in a while a human. I called them back and tried to talk to them and explain she's my son's ex but they still would call. I dropped the land line when I moved so no more calls.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Has to be a legit debt or you have a case for harassment.

Tidybuoy · 09-11-2018, 11:58 AM

I just watched a show on Netflix called "Dirty Money". Each episode is about an industry with very bad and amoral practices. The first episode is on PayDay Loans and about a guy leading the industry that just got life in prison for his bad practices.

It's usually stated in the very fine print but if you don't pay it off in two weeks (generally 1 pay period), they renew the loan and charge a large processing fee. So, people think they are paying off their loan when in fact they are only paying service fees to extend the loan. A $500 loan could end up costing $2000.

It was very interesting and confirms my beliefs that these businesses should be illegal.

looneybin · 09-11-2018, 04:53 PM

Payday loan companies are the worst, basically legalized loan sharking

mepstein · 09-11-2018, 06:56 PM

You can ask / demand that they remove your number from their list - but they won't. If it bothers you, change your number.

smadsen · 09-11-2018, 07:50 PM

That "receivable" has been bought & sold so many times it has a life of its' own. Now it's trickled down to robo calls from the Philippines. Eventually they will give up when no one will buy it because it ages out.

GWN7 · 09-11-2018, 09:13 PM

You can either fret about it or have fun with them. When they call tell them your never going to pay them. "I don't pay taxes why should I pay you?" and hang up.

My favorite is answer the phone with "I don't know what to do?.....There's blood everywhere and they are not moving!" Then hang up.

Starter pistol....two shots then "Your next mothertrucker!" Hang up

Of course you have to unplug the phone or turn off the ringer after any of these.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

I just watched a show on Netflix called "Dirty Money". Each episode is about an industry with very bad and amoral practices. The first episode is on PayDay Loans and about a guy leading the industry that just got life in prison for his bad practices.

It's usually stated in the very fine print but if you don't pay it off in two weeks (generally 1 pay period), they renew the loan and charge a large processing fee. So, people think they are paying off their loan when in fact they are only paying service fees to extend the loan. A $500 loan could end up costing $2000.

It was very interesting and confirms my beliefs that these businesses should be illegal.

Came to post about this. Great watch and gives tons of insight into the shady crap they do. Great series over all!

SCadaddle · 09-11-2018, 11:29 PM

The local loan sharks occasionally call me looking for a friend of mine that is either late on a payment or (as he claims) "I've paid those MF's off and they are trying to loan me money at a better rate!" yada yada.....so when my phone rings and they are looking for my friend....."have you seen Donnie lately?" I tell them "yes, saw him just yesterday, why, does he owe you money?" and of course they say "yes" to which I tell them "yeah, well he owes ME money as well, and I'll probably see him again before you do, so I'll make sure to get MY money from him first!"....man, it pisses me off that he gave them my number in the first place.

T77911S · 09-12-2018, 02:38 AM

a debt collector called me about a neighbor.
this was 15yrs ago or so. how did they get MY number and why would I know anything about my neighbor

MBAtarga · 09-12-2018, 05:05 AM

I'm not going to defend Payday Loan businesses or their practices, but as a regular listener, I heard the Freakonomics episode (Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say? - Freakonomics Freakonomics) on them years ago. It had some very interesting stats based on research that in general showed they aren't as "shady" as most believe. They are basically a last resort for most of their customers, and those customers are high risk in terms of credit.

I was unfortunate enough to share 2/3's of my full name with some scumbag here in the metro Atlanta that had a large Visa card balance. I was getting letters as well as phone calls about it. I tried to explain that I'm not him - but many just wouldn't believe me. As the debt was passed around to "new" collection agencies, it would start all over.

Noah930 · Noah930's Garage

In grad school, I moved into a condo with two fellow students. This was in the days pre-cell phone (or at least they were still fairly uncommon). About every two or three months, we would get a call from a debt collection agency asking for a Juan Somethingorother. We were three Asian guys, so obviously we weren't the guy they were looking for. We actually looked forward to getting those calls, as we would deadpan back, "Sorry, there is no Juan here."

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

Our landline is the same number that used to be (long ago) some large oil and gas company. They are gone from the planet long ago. We still get an occasional call from someone looking for them. Even foreign countries.

I had some debt collector calling me back in my single days. I can only guess someone was in debt and made up a phone number for them to call, and I was the lucky person. They were looking for Pam. I did not know a Pam, and had no idea who she was.

After a few calls and telling them I am not the guy, I was pissed. I told them flat out, I will never pay a cent to anyone for it, and I will just trash any letter you send to me. Nothing ever showed up on any credit report about it. They kept calling and I kept getting nastier. I finally moved, and dumped that phone number.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

The best way to keep debt collectors from calling...is for you and your family to pay their bills (and don't have "friends" that use you as a contact/reference when obtaining loans that they will never pay). If you buy/sell a part or service here on PP and not get the part or your money...don't you try to resolve the issue?

Obviously, if you are not the person they are looking for, tell them and they will eventually move on. tell them that you are on the national "don't call' list. They probably call a few times because folks who don't pay their debts tend to duck calls from those they owe money. They likely used one of the online search engines that linked your names somehow. Personally, I blame the person that does not pay their bills. If the terms were not great (like a payday loan), it was their choice to borrow under those terms. If a friend or relative, get the caller's number and give it to them and tell them to straighten it out (and that you will expect no more calls). If they don't take care of it...that is quite telling...and it is probably legitimate.

rockfan4 · 09-12-2018, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fintstone

The best way to keep debt collectors from calling...is for you and your family to pay their bills (and don't have "friends" that use you as a contact/reference when obtaining loans that they will never pay). If you buy/sell a part or service here on PP and not get the part or your money...don't you try to resolve the issue?

Obviously, if you are not the person they are looking for, tell them and they will eventually move on. tell them that you are on the national "don't call' list. They probably call a few times because folks who don't pay their debts tend to duck calls from those they owe money. They likely used one of the online search engines that linked your names somehow. Personally, I blame the person that does not pay their bills. If the terms were not great (like a payday loan), it was their choice to borrow under those terms. If a friend or relative, get the caller's number and give it to them and tell them to straighten it out (and that you will expect no more calls). If they don't take care of it...that is quite telling...and it is probably legitimate.

Fintstone, she's told me she has taken care of it. I've told the callers that I'm not the person they're looking for. So guess what they do... Do they give up, or do they resell it to someone else? Which solution gets them a little money? So then it starts all over again with the next agency. See this comment -

Quote:

Originally Posted by smadsen

That "receivable" has been bought & sold so many times it has a life of its' own. Now it's trickled down to robo calls from the Philippines. Eventually they will give up when no one will buy it because it ages out.

I think we're going on 4 years of calls since this has started. Yes debt ages out, but that doesn't seem to matter to the collectors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mepstein

You can ask / demand that they remove your number from their list - but they won't. If it bothers you, change your number.

That's what I did, I changed my number. I re-used the old house number, and that's what bugs me. She's never lived at my address, we have different last names, so how did they decide my number would be a good one to call? It's probably because her mother did a change of address when she moved in with me and they figure if one member of the family moved here, they must all have moved here. Ticks me off. I don't want to give up the old house number, it's the only one my aunts and uncles know.

legion · 09-12-2018, 12:44 PM

Want a call to stop? This works every time....

Now that you know the number of the annoying caller, answer with this:

"FBI field office, consumer fraud division, this is special agent Smith."

mepstein · 09-12-2018, 01:51 PM

If you pick up the phone, it will be listed as a good number. I used to work at a bank, collections was just an isle away. They use pretty good software to track you and as the debt ages, it gets transfered to different buckets. It doesn't matter what you say because the people in the next bucket (30, 60, 90 days, 1 year, ect) get paid if they collect. They don't care about what you told the last guy. Their screen will show possible connections to you (like facebook does) so they call those connections as well. But I can assure you, if you pick up the phone or it goes to your VM, your number gets listed as active and the calls will not stop.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Yep. Get the debt collector's number and give it to your relative and ask them to clear it up. If they have paid up, they should not have any trouble going back to the person they shafted initially and getting it fixed. If you get another phone number, they will get that pretty quickly and call that.