Re: Lurker about ready to have a major temper tantrum-mary

[Guest guest]

You said you did collections, have a question. How can you legally tell

a collector not to call you if you really owe them money?? Never heard

that before and very interested to hear more.

Thanks

N.

>despite the fact that I have even told them, they are

> not to call here again (if a collector is harassing you, they can not

> call if you tell them not to (also did collections!)

>

>

[Guest guest]

Check the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They have to tell you

the minute you answer or take the call(as the person who owes the

debt, not anyone else!) why they are calling, and unless there have

been major changes in the act, you can refuse to talk to them and

tell them never to call again! Doesn't mean they won't still bombard

you with letters and also, depending on the amount, they can decide

to turn it over to their lawyer. Sometimes hospitals, doctors, etc.

will write it off or you can reach an agreement about what you can

afford to pay. Keep in mind, that if they are a big collection

agency, they have direct access to your credit reports in at least

one if not all of the companies that do compile your credit

worthiness. Also, if they even tell someone other than the person

who owes the debt, they can be in big trouble!! The only person they

are allowed to speak to is the individual whose name is on the bill

(unless you as the individual who owes the debt give them permission

to speak to your representative). And they also have a wide variety

of ways to track anyone (or just about anyone down) and they do NOT

nor are they required to reveal to you how they obtained your

address, phone number or if you have changed your name. I blew it

one time when I was collecting charged off student loans and let the

cat out of the bag that I had spoken to the individual's parent

(which probably meant that the person changed their number ASAP and

the parent would no longer give out info.)

It is not an easy job and collectors can get so stressed that, if

they reach you towards the end of their day, they may be even

nastier, more persistent, but they also have to be very cautious in

what they can and cannot say to you.

I am going to check the act and laws on the net to see if there have

been many changes as it has been sometime since I did that terrible

job --- but I was good at it! Especially when I worked in a bank.

They had what at the time, was a sizeable amount of charged off loans

and I was trained on how to skip trace and in a short period of time,

I did collect a large of the money that had been written off. But

two years of that and I had had it --- especially as the person whom

I worked with did not even remember when we had meetings with the

bank president, what she was doing!

>

> You said you did collections, have a question. How can you legally

tell

> a collector not to call you if you really owe them money?? Never

heard

> that before and very interested to hear more.

>

> Thanks

>

> N.

>

> >despite the fact that I have even told them, they are

> > not to call here again (if a collector is harassing you, they can

not

> > call if you tell them not to (also did collections!)

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Sorry, I did re-read the act and you have 5 days to send the

collection agency, etc. a letter telling them not to call you! My

mistake. But I would suggest that perhaps others might want to pull

up the information as it is helpful to know what collectors can and

cannot do. There is more than one site, but I opened the first one

which really summits it up very weel === Fair Debt Collection Act.

The information is dated 1999 but I don't think it has changed much.

And because it involves trade, the FTC is the one big government

agency that over sees collectors and collection agencies.

> >

> > You said you did collections, have a question. How can you

legally

> tell

> > a collector not to call you if you really owe them money?? Never

> heard

> > that before and very interested to hear more.

> >

> > Thanks

> >

> > N.

> >

> > >despite the fact that I have even told them, they are

> > > not to call here again (if a collector is harassing you, they

can

> not

> > > call if you tell them not to (also did collections!)

> > >

> > >

> >

>