Would appreciate your feedback / help with a situation that occurred last night.... I have been making payments to a creditor - balance owing is 400.00. In fact I have called them for the last three weeks and have made arrangements to have them take a payment directly from my checking account. Last night I was on the Creditnet site doing research and received a call from same creditor. I did not feel like dealing with them right at that moment, so when the collector asked for me I told her, "I am sorry she's not home right now." The collector asked if I would take down her number and I said sure. She then proceeded to ask me to repeat the number to her, I told her that was unnecessary and terminated the call. She promptly called back and demanded that I repeat the phone number to her, again I terminated the call. About an hour later I got a call from a good friend telling me that she had just gotten a strange phone call. The collector proceeded to call my friend, who I had listed as a reference on my original application. The collector told my friend that they had been trying to get hold of me that I would not return their calls, and that they needed to talk to me right away so that they could make the "proper financial decision" on a business matter. As far as I am concerned what the creditor did was pure harassment. Creditor has received a payment from me three weeks in a row, I have called them each week, and other than not repeating the phone number back to the collector last night- always responded to any messages left for me at my home. Do I have the basis for a claim against them, if so how should I proceed... Thanks for your help, this was very embarrassing and makes me livid that they would stoop to such tactics!
These are excerpts from the FDCPA: § 805. Communication in connection with debt collection [15 USC 1692c] (b) COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. Except as provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector. They're definately guilty of this. Do you have a telephone recording device? If not, you can pick one up for a low price at Radio Shack, or Walmart. Depending on what state you and the collector are in, you may be able to record these phone calls without letting him know. That way you'll have proof of: § 806. Harassment or abuse [15 USC 1692d] (5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number. Also, you could send a C&D letter advising them that contact is acceptable through the mail only.
