Just got an interesting call to my cell phone. It was Pioneer Credit Recovery (a sub of Sallie Mae) and they asked for my wife. Since they wouldn't tell me anything I refused to give them a contact number but they gave me theirs. I called back their main line and that was how I found out who they were. My wife paid for college without student loans and her credit report is clean now after an identity theft incident about 6 months ago and we've checked all of her reports as of 3 months ago and all of the accounts listed as of then are still current. In addition, her current Experian shows everything as current. So - my question is, how should I play this? 1) They have my cell but not the home or her work/cell so they can't get in touch by phone. I'll just continue to rebuff them when they call. 2) If they have our address, they'll send something in which case we'll respond with the cease & desist/verification - and we'll know what it's about. 3) We'll continue to check the Experian pretty frequently. Am I missing anything here? Any ideas on how to handle this? Thanks.
ALWAYS tell people who you DON'T KNOW that they need to realize that they are calling a CELLPHONE and that they just cost you MONEY...AND THAT THEY NEED NOT CALL BACK WITH-OUT SENDING THIS MONTHS PAYMENT FOR THE BILL SO THEY CAN CALL ALL THEY WANT.
Section 808(5) --- They've already broken the law. This is the most expensive phone call that they've ever made... Now, when you get this months cell phone bill, you could send them a suit for (the number of minutes * the rate per minute) + $1,000.00 Even if the call is within your allotted minutes, you are still paying for those allotted minutes. BTW: Don't wait for them to write you, get the validation in the mail first. You should be able to call them (from a pay phone) and ask for their mailing address. Chances are they don't have your address. If you are certain that she didn't take out student loans, basically they more than likely found the first XXXX XXXX which they could and identified her as being the XXXX XXXX that they were looking for. Here's a link to a Business World article which a person who never even attended college was mis-identified as being a student loan customer; and a few other high profile cases... http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2002/tc20020829_8532.htm
Re: Re: Weird Call - What action to take? THAT IS CORRECT...YOU PAID FOR THE CALL EVEN "IF" YOU DIDN'T EXCEED THE ALLOWED MINUTES
Re: Weird Call - What action to tak Which law is the 808(5)? The fdcpa? I get calls on my cell all the time. I don't answer when it says unavailable. Yet they leave messages. What should be done about this.
Re: Weird Call - What action to tak Yep - Fair Debts Collection Practices Act, Section 808(5) Unfair Practices
Re: Weird Call - What action to tak If you are being contacted regarding an account that is not yours, and it may be related to identity theft, it is to your advantage to drive all parties quickly to that conclusion, instead of avoiding contact.
Re: Weird Call - What action to tak "Section 808(5) --- They've already broken the law. This is the most expensive phone call that they've ever made." -Actually, if you read FDCPA 808, section 5 says: "(5) Causing charges to be made to any person for communications by concealment of the true propose of the communication. Such charges include, but are not limited to, collect telephone calls and telegram fees." -From what the poster said, THEY DID NOT CONCEAL THE TRUE PURPOSE of the call, THUS they are NOT in violation of this section. http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm#808 "BTW: Don't wait for them to write you, get the validation in the mail first." -The consumers right to "validation/verification" DOES NOT BEGIN until the consumer RECEIVES the "validation notice" from the debt collector. -Any "dispute" BEFORE or AFTER the validation period, ONLY requires the debt collector to report the debt as "disputed." "The 30 day peiod during which a consumer may request verification of a debt runs from the date of receipt of the validation rights by the consumer and is not extended by the collectors subsequent actions"-NCLC FDCPA 5.7.3.1 -BUT, if the collector called you, AND if it was the INITIAL communicaiton, they are required to send a notice of your validation rights within 5 days. FDCPA 809 (a) -Because it appears the cellular # is all they have, THEY CAN CALL YOU on it. -IF you cannot resolve this as an ID theft case, a police report can take care of that, then send a "cease communication letter" to them. -Have they reported this on your credit report?
Re: Weird Call - What action to tak -Because it appears the cellular # is all they have, THEY CAN CALL YOU on it. ???????
Re: Weird Call - What action to tak -If the ONLY phone number the collection agency has is a cellular number, they have a right to call it in the efforts to collect. -Fair? Maybe, maybe no. Legal? yes. -The poster is NOT helping the situation by ignoring them
