1) When a collector is told not to call, how long is it good for? Forever or for the next 12 months? 2) I need a fax # or address to go with 800-777-5076. My searches are drawing a blank, as they did last spring. The are calling everyone with the same last name looking for me. They did it last March and I called and told them not ever call again, to send me letters. They never identified the agency they worked for and never sent me a letter, that i could identify as coming from them (based on the 800#). I want to put 'never call' in writing this time.
I have looked allover the net for that 800# and can't find it anywhere. I called it and all I got was a busy signal. Anyone care to chip in on that one, it looks interesting, a CA that you can't locate... PawMix
How about calling them and asking who they are? If they won't tell you, explain that you have a debt with them and you want to know where to send payments.
You need a cease and desist letter for this. Telling them not to call doesn't mean anything. Keep in mind that once you do that, the only options you leave them is to ignore the debt, or take it up in court. If you decide to do this, I'd recomend you do it in addition to another strategy. The easiest thing to do is call them up and ask. If you're afraid they will trap your phone number and use it to locate you, then call from a public phone. It's called skip-tracing. It's what they do when they can't locate you. They're allowed to do this. If you do it, send it by registered mail. Don't rely on a fax.
I tried calling - there is no answer. No answering system either. Last march i got an answering system... it didn't identify the business though. My address is listed correctly on all three CR so there is no need for skiptracing or sly moves on their part. The same goes for the calls. At the time of the calls last march, the phone # on file with the CAs was our number for the last 10 years and was listed with all of our creditors, yet they never attempted to call me. It's changed now (AC changes) but the address is still good. If they can get these other phone # out of the blue, why can't they get mine? it's listed in directory service for the city and state i've lived in for the last 10 years. I really don't like them calling strangers (it's a person who is not related to me, just has the same last name and lives in another state) and asking for me - they leave the number and a account # to reference. Anyone could call, say it was me and get information about the debt. There is nothing on the CR that suggests who it might be. All of the listed CAs contacted me by mail. By processof elimination, i think it was for a wachovia account with a last report date in 1998. They just stopped reporting, it was a good account until 99/2000. It's not even listed on my CRs anymore. (To my dismay, bunch of 5 yr old stuff was purged from Efax, including good but closed accounts. it wasn't ever reported on the others.)
I know, I shouldn't talk to myself... I dug out an old CR with the wachovia acct on it. It's marked transfered or sold, last report date is actually 1997, not 98. My last wachovia statement was 6/00. NRC was the last CA to contact me about it, in 11/2000, at my correct address. If they aren't reporting it and can't get updated information from my CR, would that mean they don't have enough information to validate the debt? (such as my ss#) If they don't have enough information to find me on their own, what are the chances they can validate?It's not hurting my scores, since it's not reported anywhere though.
Re: Re: Collections calls - 2 questions Not every skip-tracer has access to credit bureau reports. Those cost money, and it would be normal to have some policy where they don't pull them, or only pull them after every other avenue has been exhausted.
Re: Re: Collections calls - 2 questions As old as this debt is, I would answer the phone the next time they call, announce that I was recording the call (do it) and ask for the name of the company and their address. They are supposed to give that information. If they refused, I would immediately call my phone company and complain about their harrassment. Debts this old are purchased by the lowest of the low and they don't care what laws they break.
I remember working for a collection agency for about 2 months part time when I was in college. Our skip tracers would only pull credit reports for amounts over like say, $800. Also, we'd mostly just use them to find out addresses, so we could locate the debtors. (if the report looked good, then we were supposed to press harder since they probably were in decent shape financially and could afford to pay the debt.) If the credit report was trashed, there wasn't much point in trying, since they'd just end up in bankruptcy anyway. Steve
Re: Re: Collections calls - 2 questions Except they aren't calling me, they are calling people with the same last name (who were able to find my phone number to tell me someone was looking for me). They aren't answering the phone when I call back. To the comment about value of debt, my lowest CO was $1300 - PRA has that one and sent me a letter recently. If this is the Wachovia debt, it was just over $2000 when it was CO 6/00.
As i mentioned in the other reply, the debt is worth at least $1300 and i think it's probably for $2000. If they would pull the CR, they'd get my address and they would also see that we're pretty trashed too. A smart person would of filed BK long ago <g> but we keep hoping for better times so we can pay off the debts. Our scores aren't too, too bad - varying between 610 and 635 (efx), with 4 COs and some collection accounts, but the amounts owed are as high as $6000 on some cards. We're judgment proof and owe the IRS for 401K withdrawls (took out a loan to cover medical bills, employer went bankrupt, we couldn't pay back the loan immediately so it was considered a withdrawl). If anyone threatens to sue, i'll tell them to go ahead, it's their money and if they win, I file BK and the IRS gets what little assests I have. I don't worry about C&D letters causing them to sue, I know CAs are dumb, but they aren't stupid. <g>
