A bill collector came by my house. The bill is a month late. I was not home, but my grandmother was. He was hassling her for the money and trying to find out exactly where I was so he could locate me. The creditor is a local branch of a national finance company. They traveled probably 30 miles to get a $70 payment. They have not even tried to call or write. She was NOT thrilled. The bill collector has obviously come again because cards have been appearing on the doorstep. Is this legal?
Is there a good way to stop them, besides forking over the money? They should not be harrassing senior citizens and talking to her specifically about how much I owe and how someone in that house needs to pay them. I thought talking to someone else in itself was a legal violation?
It's a violation for a ca to do that, but this appears to be the oc trying to collect. Just tell them to stop coming to your house and to not call you or show up at your employment.
You might also look to your state's laws, they may have more bite. In TX OC's are considered debt collectors.
This has less to do with you than you think. The Finance Company's cost of funds is dictated by its delinquency figures at the end of each month. It's the end of the month. The Colllectors are out trying to get as much caught up as possible. If you are behind and haven't paid in over 30 days you're ina more important category - ROP, meaning "Recency of Payment". There is intense pressure on branch Managers and District managers to get this amount lower in dollar amounts than the momnth before. taht's called "Beat the Sheets". AND... if you owe a bunch of money, your account is even more important to them. Here's why.... Let's say you are 3 months behind and haven't paid since December. That places you in the delinquency sheets as wekll as the 90 day ROP sheets (no payments Jan, Feb and now Mar). And, let's say your balance is large. If tehy collect a payment you come off the ROP sheets altogether but stay on the delinquency sheets. Another scenario: In December you prepaid the January payment. You didn't pay in Feb or yet this month. Technically you're 30 days behind but for ROP purposes you're a 60 (no payment last 2 calendar months). Collect one payment you come off ALL sheets. I used to manage a loan company, we went through this crap every month.
About 5 years ago we were late on a payment to American General - it wasn't a month late - it was, as I remember, 5 days late. They came to my house. Left a nasty note on my door along with a business card. What's worse is that we got a propane delivery that day too - and they put the bill on top of the American General note - so the propane guy knew we were behind in a payment. Apparently he took note of that and the propane company which normally gives you 10 days to pay, came out the next day and turned off our propane, with no notice and that bill wasn't even late. Wish I knew then what I know now.... Ozzy.
Gosh, I'm sorry to hear you have to deal with them. American General was the only creditor I really had problems with and still hate to this day. Other creditors worked with us for the most part - American General was just awful. Even credit card companies give you a few days grace period before they start buggin' you. Ozzy.
I remember they called my job once the DAY BEFORE payment was due (this was a year ago, when my credit and finances were superb) to harrass me. I hate them.
You need to file a trespass notice with your local police. If they show up again after being told not to they can and will be arrested. Even though they are trying to collect on a legit debt, they cannot enter your property if you tell them not to. I know a little bit about this, I am also a Police Officer. Tac
Maybe one previous poster had the "red carpet" treatment down pat. The "red carpet" being the tongue of a mean Rottweiler. (LOL)
Re: Re: Bill collector came by my house! LOLOL - I was getting ready to offer him up my Akita. He's hungry.
Re: Re: Bill collector came by my house! I know one lady here in OKC who has an even better "red carpet" treatment. She has several cougars which she keeps as pets. She used to have a pet store and I went into her store and she had a cougar kitten which was about 6 months old. It was playing in a separate room with a big thick glass window. The cougar was busily batting a basketball around the room and the kitten was hitting that basketball so hard that when it hit the wall the ball would make a loud banging sound and it was much louder than it would have been had a strong man thown the ball against the wall with all his might. One of those things would put flight to any bill collector for sure. Talk about an attack cat!!!! (LOL)
Re: Re: Bill collector came by my house! They came by today, this time it was two men. I was not at home and my brother (and his Rottweiler mix as well as our cocker spaniel) answered the door. They threatened to take the dogs and sell them for payment, which was not the right thing to say to my brother, who outweighs them by 50 pounds. In addition, they peeked around one of the snapping dogs (he's nice but sensed evil) and saw my brother's computer. They threatened to come in the house and take it away, even though it's not mine. At this point, my brother is SO mad he wants to pawn something to pay the bill himself since they threatened to take the dogs. We're afraid to leave our dogs or anything at home now. These American General people are psychotic and apparently acting like they're the mafia.
Re: Re: Bill collector came by my house! They cannot do that without a court order. If they do that then just call the sheriff's office or the cops and have them come out and arrest them. They may or may not arrest but they sure will run them off.
