I have a debt collection service who continues to harass me. I have given them specific guidelines, but here are the things they have done and continue to do, does anyone have any advice on the things I can do or anything that I could possibly get from them? The total debt is 3800.00. They spoke with a third party not associated with myself and gave details about the debt, such as amount and how they had previously spoken with me about payment plans. I am 23 years old and this was my parents they were speaking too. I repeatedly told them to quit calling them and finally after numerous times, they quit the calls. They called my house and used profane language with one of my roomates, "telling him to get the f**K up and get a job, because he was sleeping at noon." We are in college and of course he has the right to sleep that long. He will also call using various voices and let the phone ring up to 30 times before haning up and then calling again to let it ring. He will call my woekplace, although he has not been informed not to as of yet and lie to co workers trying to find information on me. He will then simply state to them something along the lines of, "Okay well I guess I won't be hiring him for this job!" I understand that I owe a debt and I plan on paying it, I have one week left until the summer and then I can make some of the money to pay it, but they dont' won't too seem to give me that option. This has been going on since about march 15th and the reason i have let them call the house is because i don't want the debt to go to court or anything like that. Does anyone know anything that I can do??? Am I allowed to sue them for anything and what kind of evidence will I need?
Surely you can't be serious! I cannot believe a collection agency would so blatantly violate the law. Read the Fair debt collection Practices Act on the FTC website. www.ftc.gov They have all the information you need. There is a section on harrassment by debt collectors. These people have blatantly violated the law. What you need is a tape recorder to record all of the conversations with these people. Keep a log of the time, date of the call. I hope you keep the answering machine messages that these people left. You definately have them on violations, you just need to document it so you can show it to the judge.
Trust me it has defnitley happend, I have a roomate who can testify that for a fact. I'll be honest, my roomate iniated the contact by telling they guy I would call him back when I felt like it and to quit calling the house until the, but that is when the guy lashed out at my roomate and told him to f off and get a job. I thought that was amazing. I also have the parents, of which still don't know about the debt, but they were defnitley contacted and told the amount. That is two violations for sure, not counting the fact that they contacted my work and used false information to gain information on myself. I am wondering what I can get them for though??
Send a Cease and Desist letter immediately. Record all the calls they make to you and on each call remind them that you have sent a letter informing them that you requested all comunication be done through the mail via your letter dated X/X/X date and received via CRRR on Y/Y/Y date. After they ignore the first C&D and validation letters file suit and have a process server send them service in person, or you could send the estopple letter to build some more violations first. Every call they make (after the validation letter is received) will be a collection attempt and a violation of the FDCPA, you can add $1000 for each one. Most likely you will max out the amount your small claims court will allow very quickly, and can be done with this. By the time this is over they will owe you quite a bit more than an apology. -Peace, Dave
Keith4w, The idiot from that CA doesn't have a clue how much trouble he is getting the agency into. *They cannot use any type of harsh language while collecting a debt from anyone *They cannot discuss the debt with anyone except you - all they can do is ask your wearabouts. Like the others here have advised - all you need to do is send them a validation letter - I can care less if you owe them that debt or not, they cannot treat you like that.....PERIOD!!! If you handle this correctly - THEY will be paying the debt for you Good Luck, Sal
Ummmmm, not a good idea. If you send a C&D letter, how are they going to respond to validation? Their ONLY recourse after a C&D letter would be to file suit or drop the whole matter. For $3800 I doubt it would be the latter. Send a letter of validation. Did they send you a letter within 5 days of first contact informing you of your rights? If not, that's one violation. Contacting a third party is another. Any continued collection activity prior to validating will be more violations. If these clowns are that aggressive, forget small claims court and nail them for some serious damages. Good Luck. Gib
Is it a 3rd party collection agency, or are they the collections dept of the original creditor? If it's the latter, then they may not be subject to the harrassment restrictions in the FDCPA, and that may be why they think they can get away with acting so outrageously.
Sorry, I should have clarified...send the cease and desist letter that demands all communication be in writing at a specified address only...never by phone or other means. Here is the sample. Obviously you can not demand validation and demand no communication. -Peace, Dave
