Our neighbor just told us that a collection agency, United Recovery Systems, contacted them by phone asking questions about my husband and I. Is this illegal????
What did they tell them and what did they ask? If they mentioned that you were delinquent on accounts, it's definitely a no-no. If they only asked for your address, etc, I'm not so sure. That wouldn't really be collection activity and they did nothing to damage your character.
I'll have to find out if they divulged that we were delinquent on our account -- the neighbor talked to my DH. She said they wanted to know info about where we live, work, whether we were in town, etc. What kind of people we are, etc. AND they gave them a telephone number to pass onto us to call them. Of course, all the neighbor has to do is call the number themselves and find out it's a collection agency. This seems like harassment to me. It's outrageous and this may not be the only neighbor that's been called. What can I do about this? How do I get this CA to back off? I don't even know what cc they represent. They just got the account.
This may not be a collector. When I used to work for an insurance company, we routinely ran these kinds of reports to determine risk. Also, if you're involved in any type of work that requires a background investigation, this is the type of questions that would be asked. I've gone through it for security clearances, insurance licenses, real estate licenses, and securities licenses.
URS (United Recovery) is a CA, and a very aggressive one. I might be mistaken, but I believe the Texas AG has gone after them before for their very aggressive tactics. I dealt with them once as they were attempting to collect on an AMEX account. Oh, if only I knew then what I know now! Keebo
No, this is a collector. He's been leaving messages for us to call him and we haven't. So, he called our neighbor and left his name and phone number for us to call him. He is trying to collect on the Capital One debt (I just learned...). We haven;t received anything in writing from him. Do we tell him to stop calling and send a validation letter? How do we handle this now?
Everything was so close to being legal, until they wanted your neighbor to be Western Union, the USPS, Fed Ex, UPS, Pony Express, etc... The second they ask the neighbor to deliver the message it was illegal. Also, since they gave the neighbor a phone number, they broke another one, if your neighbor would call that number back, the neighbor could learn that they are a debt collector. THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY REASONS, why third party communications are ONLY allowed for location purposes, without YOUR consent. From the Commentary http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/commentary.htm
Jam, thank you very much for this information. What do I do now? Do I file a lawsuit against this CA?
Clearly there's been a violation here. My DH and I live in an upscale community where people talk and these neighbors who came to our door to pass on the note w/the cA's name and phone number just moved in 5 months ago. We are embarrassed and humiliated by this and want to go after United Recovery. We're having a tough enough time as it is. Can someone please tell me what is the next step. Can they be sued for more than $1K??? I know the limit on small claims court here is $7500... Or, should we save ourselves the aggravation and use it as a bargaining tool? What we don't need is more strass and aggravation in our lives... I appreciate your help...Susanna
How much stress and aggravation they've caused (and a monetary value for it) would have to be determined by a judge/magistrate (whichever your jurisdiction has) or a jury. But the embarrassment that this CA is causing is what the FDCPA was created for. If you want to use it as leverage, that's often the quickest route. There are only a few companies that even after the problem is fixed, I would love to sue on principal... How long ago did they first start calling and leaving a message on your machine? (Was it more than 5 business days?) Does your machine have your (and/or) your husbands name on it? (Not a generic greeting, or You have reached xxx-xxxx.) If the machine has a complete greeting with your name on it, then the CA can't even use the location information card, because the machine confirmed that the information that they had was correct.
This guy left 2 messages a week ago, but didn't identify who he was -- it sounded like a sales call frankly. So, we didn't return the call. (BTW, we get many of these calls during the day and it's clear they're CA's, but his message was so "up" and friendly...). Our voice mail is generic -- no ID. So, I can see that MAYBE he felt he had the wrong number. But, that's no excuse for relaying his name and phone number to our neighbor to deliver to us, like some carrier pigeon. (She came to our door rather perplexed, not to mention inconvenienced, and we are very embarrassed now with this new neighbor). This morning I filed a complaint with the FTC who in 2002 fined them 240,000 for the same type of abuse. This guy called again this morning and I told him I was filing a complaint (as he talked over me) and then told him not to call us again. Should I send him a cease communication letter or a validation letter? Thanks all for the help...Susanna
In general never cease communications (completely)... You will want to send a validation letter, but they haven't advised you of your right to do so, yet. And they have to do so within 5 days of the initial communication. (Unless he did do that when he called today.) If so, then get the validation letter out in the mail, today, and ensure that they get it asap. Is the amount in question supposedly higher/lower than $1,000.00?
I've received no letters from this CA and he advised me of nothing on the phone. As I was talking; he was talking "over" me and I informed him not to call us again and then I hung up. So, technically, we have no notification from them about the specifics of the debt, which I think is for $10K on a business cc. So, I should wait for written notification at this point? Do nothing?
I think is for $10K on a business cc. susanna | ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> This is not good : Business debt isn't covered by consumer protection laws.
It's "business debt" in name only. The cc was issued under our ssn's for a sole proprietor business. I believe that's considered "personal" debt... If not, what can we expect from this CA? Thanks...Susanna
CA can't claim that they thought this was NOT your phone number. If that was the case, then why would they have used a reverse directory and called a neighbor for the sole purpose of embarrassing you! This is just RUDE! I had an OC (auto lender) call my MOTHER... to complain I hadn't paid and left a phone number to call. THAT was embarrassing too! It sure didn't get him his money, but I suppose it made him feel macho or something. I'm so sorry that this happened to you.
What's "not good" about it? I'd like to know what to expect... Also, the debt is attached to our SSN's and the "business" is in name only -- it's a sole proprietorship tied to us personally. Many thanks...
