Harrassment???

I'm no expert, but I believe the can only contact/speak with you twice per week.

 

No, they can call much more than that and get away with it easily. The best way to put a cease & desist on their phone calls is to simply tell them you don't talk about such matters on the telephone and hang up on them. It won't take them but a couple of times to get the hint and quit calling. He does need to tell them to send it to him in a letter before he hangs up on them. But tell him to just tell them to send it to him in a letter and hang up every time. Don't even cost him a postage stamp that way and they get the message real quick

 

Generally any collection representative from any company will stop calling the person if they pay their bill. I think a board such as this one should be used the right way. Not telling people how to beat the debt that they agreed to incur. I feel that we should encourage people to be responsible and pay the debt they owe. If they cannot afford it then they should seek alternative methods, Consumer Credit Counseling, Bankruptcy. There are a large number of creditors that are willing to set up programs to work with customers. Although, they cannot help if the person just hangs up on them and tells them not to call again. Seeing the reply telling him to hang up on them bothers me as a concious consumer who pays their bill on time. Is this a valid way of credit repair that you promote?

 

Bobby Alert! Bobby Alert!

 

Newbie Disclaimer: This is just my opinion, not meant to be the word of the law, or even good sense..

For the original problem: I personally think 2-3 times a day IS harrasment. As far as the original creditor part goes, check into the state laws--in my state, the original creditor cannot do this. Check under your state's Atty General's page or lawbook.

A solution for your friend may be to tell the phone person NOT to contact him; only in writing and THEN follow up that day (if not yesterday) with a Certified Mail/Return Reciept specifiying that you will only discuss this matter in mail. Also, your friend may want to try to establish a repayment plan with Sears, via CC/RR mail..

(stepping on soapbox)

I've personally found that when a collector pressures me on the phone, that I don't make sound judgements on repayment plans, or settlements. I got into a LOT of trouble with that two years ago, with two different collectors HARRASSING me. Pressured, I said yes to anything they wanted, gave them my checking account numbers for prepayment (which NOW I know was illegal, but more later on that)...

I overextended myself so bad with the repayments, that I had to go to soup kitchens to feed my child, even tho I was a salaried employee (technical field).. Had I been able to BUDGET and THEN negotiate repayments with an even mind, and well thought out plan, both the creditor and I could have been satisfied.

If it is the goal of a creditor to get their money, regardless of how a person has to repay them, via phone harrassment, then to heck with them...

(stepping off soapbox...)

Deb @ Mich St

 

Freeze:

You make it sound like collection agencies are here to help us. They are not. What we are talking about is harrassment. When I helped a relative with some serious credit repair, I had CA's call every night, even after I told them this person had no money to pay any bills. On one occasion, I told the CA not to call on Saturday because that was the only day I could sleep in. From then on, he called at 8 AM every Saturday.

Sometimes people are in deep do-do and cannot pay the bills, whether or not it is their fault. These harrassing calls from the CA's serve no pupose other than to harrass.

Since we are taking polls lately, let's try this. How many people have found a CA that is there to help you?

 

I believe the question is about harrassment and not credit repair. If you cannot pay something and you've said as much to a collection agent, they why would you want to receive multiple calls per-day regarding the same matter. You cannot make this an issue about morals.

 

Hope, are you referring to "freeze"? If so, how on earth is *that* a "Bobby Alert"?


Or are you referring to the original poster?





MT, you wrote "You cannot make this an issue about morals."

Freeze's response may be a bit "off-topic" (but it was a reasonable response to Bill's post in light of his tendency to tell people NOT to pay bills in collections). My question is why would freeze get called "Bobby" for making the point he/she did?!?

 

Frankly, I don't think either of them is "Bobby". My intent was that this thread was about to deteriorate into a "Bobby-esque" slush.

 

Marci, I'm not saying you shouldn't pay, I'm just saying that to remain sane, someone in this situation should not make it a moral issue. The situation is stressful enough.

 

You are so wrong - I think the bulk of messages and advice on this board are not encouraging members to avoid their debt - the bulk of the messages advise members on how to correct errors on their credit report.

It is not the moral character of the average consumer that is flawed it is the lack of responsibility by the credit reporting agencies and the "FICO FIASCO". The reporting agencies use semantics in their interpetation of the FCRA to get around responsibility and basically could not give a hoot whether the information they report is correct or not - their only interest is their subscribers which pay the bills. FICO is the biggest load of hooey since traveling miracle medicine salesmen. If an individual has an account go to collections due to uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances - this is not a lack of moral character nor a lack of desire to pay - HOWEVER - if FICO considers the fact that this moral person PAYS the debt at a later time useless in their scoring then the deck is stacked against that individual. If my desire is to provide for my family and eventually buy a home and paying a charge off or collection account does nothing more than remove the money from my budget and delay the time this entry will disappear from my report as a negative - I WOULD NOT GIVE A HOOT ABOUT PAYING IT - that money could be used for more productive things.

You contradict yourself because you say we should encourage people to pay the debt they owe and in the next sentence you say we should offer the alternative of bankruptcy - make up your mind.

Most people don't refuse to speak to or hang up automatically on a creditor. This usually occurs after multiple calls a day, rude treatment or refusal to accept the fact that the payment they want isn't available in the time they want it.

 

Same question I had on another link....


DID THEY TALK WITH YOUR FRIEND OR JUST CALL? If they're talking twice per day, I think it's harrassment, but if the just look at the caller-id/screen their calls, I don't see any problem with it.

 

Hope,

Thanks for replying. I still don't quite see the connection, though, since 1.) "Bobby" generally attacked specific people on this board, and 2.) I don't see anything particularly derogatory in what freeze wrote.



MT,

Thanks for replying. I think that freeze was responding to Bill Bauer more so than to the original poster, and I agree with freeze's response in light of what Bill Bauer wrote.




To the original poster,


Your friend should NOT tell Sears not to call and simply forget about the debt. Your friend needs to make arrangements with Sears for repayment or visit CCCS. Sears is the original creditor, so the FDCPA does not apply to them. Sears also has a reputation for playing hardball. If your friend stops communication with Sears, he or she stands a reasonable chance of getting served with a judgement (esp. for $3K) especially if the debt is nearing the 7 year mark.

There used to be a poster on here and on Bayhouse.Com (Kristi?) who worked for Sears collections. She has mentioned how Sears would take people to court over anything (a toaster once, in fact) and that they were very difficult to deal with. I also don't know if Sears does CCCS, but I certainly would try.

Agree to $50 a month, send it to them, and that will keep them from seeking a judgement and possibly reduce collection calls if you get the repayment agreement in writing. And if they continue, simply don't answer the phone. But don't tell them not to call.


Two phone calls a day is harassment, I agree, but a judgement is worse than a collection account any day.


A note: if the debt is over 7 years old, then the SOL for lawsuits has run out and only then would I do a cease and desist and forget about it.

 

I have to agree - Sears is the toughest to deal with. When I helped my relative, Sears was the only one to sue. When we finally settled with all the creditors, some took nothing, average was 20%, Sears settled for 80%.They kept threatening to come and take the merchandise back. I set up a time to meet them at the house but they never showed up. I still have their refrigerator. But, the point is they will sue you.

 

No, Freeze, it isn't. Not at all.

In the first place, I don't promote or really even condone credit repair. Credit repair can only help remove inaccurate or otherwise incorrect information in one's credit files. As the government and the credit bureaus and other agencies and even knowledgeable people such as Bkev and you and tons more so correctly point out, one cannot logically expect to remove entries true and correct information from their credit bureau files. They can only remove or correct the items that are incorrect in some way. That's the way the system is suppose to work and usually does work. Quite naturally, when times are busy or other things get in the way, sometimes even the good goes out the door due to the way the law is set up, so both people and companies trying to repair credit seem to think that they have accomplished some great earth shaking feat. Those who are knowledgeable in such matter know better. They know it was just a quirk of fate when such things happen and most likely the item will be reinserted at some later date. Maybe so, maybe not. Who really cares except the person or persons favorably impacted by their good fortune.
Let them brag about their successes if they have them to brag about. Heaven only knows they richly deserved the right to do so after all the work and crap they most likely had to put up with in order to accomplish what they have.

When I say things such as the comments I made and to which you seem to take exception, I make them in the context of the abused person who has been or is actually being hounded to death on the telephone by truly abusive creditors or collectors, not so much for creditors who call up once or twice a week and are not abusive when they call. That's the way in which I hope that the person of average intelligence, maybe even the way the now famous "least intelligent consumer" would take my statements.

But even in the case of the non-abusive collector, it's good to tell them in a nice way that you would prefer that they conduct business by mail rather than over the phone and that way the consumer can look back and have a paper trail of what has transpired so that he has the time to make reasonably intelligent and informed desicions as to how he will handle his bills. When it comes payday, he can then sit down and make a tally of how much he owes, how much he has to pay and make the best decisions as to how he will distribute his money.

I never tell people how to repair their credit because I don't believe in that. I tell them about their rights under the law and what abuse is and how to know when they may have been abused by over zealous creditors or collectors and what they might be able to do about it if they are abused. And I tell them that if they feel that they have been abused then they need to seek competent legal counsel because I am not one of those. I'm more of a consumer protection advocate than anything else. It's not my fault that creditors and bill collectors can't learn what the law is and how to obey it and how to stop abusing people. And if their rights have been abused badly enough and repeatedly then maybe the creditor or collector need to make some amends for their illegal and abusive practices.

I am glad you brought that up. I agree with you wholeheartedly. It also should prove to one and all that you are a person with strong moral and ethical values who probably practices what they preach. I'm quite sure that you are a person that believes that we are a nation of laws and no one is above the law, but rather that all are subject to the law. That's one of the principles upon which this great nation was founded. If you didn't believe that , then it seems doubtful that you would take the stance that you have here.

I too take that stance and so I am quite sure that you can agree with the thought that the collector should also obey the law just as he expects his debtor to do.

 

I am still wondering why Freeze posts this type of message every time Sears is mentioned!

 

Freeze said he works for Sears. I think that is a reason why he is defending them.

 

This is state law in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and only for third party collectors, not the original creditors.

-Cindy

 

Oh good. Thank you Erica. The way Freeze attacked me when I posted a truthful but negative comment about Sears, I assumed he/she worked for them. But when I posted a ? directly to Freeze, he/she denied being employed by Sears!!!

I don't understand why the denial. It is obvious! I just don't like the attacks!