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USERNAME OFFICIALLY RETIRED
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I usually don't answer calls to numbers I don't recognize but time and time again I keep getting on my voice mail collection agencies wanting to speak to some guy I don't even know. It's like a foriegn name they keep asking for, it's funny because everytime they go to say the name they pause (every time) since they really can't pronounce it. It sounds like Ce-pre-ann So-are-ree.

Well anyways, in the past I've answered a few of these calls and have told them it's not me they're after. They always say they will remove my number from their list but never do. I don't know how to end this. If I change my number, the one I've had for 8 years now, it'll be a pain notifiying everyone of the number change and not only that, I'll probably get assigned a number in which someone else it trying to evade collectors. It's a no win.
 

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next time they call explain to them again you are not the person they are looking for and if they do not take you off the list your going to get a lawyer involved. that should do it.
 

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i got a call the other day -- the number that popped up was

0000000000

needless to say i didn't answer and they didn't leave a message
 

USERNAME OFFICIALLY RETIRED
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I get collection calls for this Ce-Pre-Ann So-Are-Ree and every now and then a call for a Silvia Brown. I don't know either of these.
 

Fah-New-Gee
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I usually don't answer calls to numbers I don't recognize but time and time again I keep getting on my voice mail collection agencies wanting to speak to some guy I don't even know. It's like a foriegn name they keep asking for, it's funny because everytime they go to say the name they pause (every time) since they really can't pronounce it. It sounds like Ce-pre-ann So-are-ree.

Well anyways, in the past I've answered a few of these calls and have told them it's not me they're after. They always say they will remove my number from their list but never do. I don't know how to end this. If I change my number, the one I've had for 8 years now, it'll be a pain notifiying everyone of the number change and not only that, I'll probably get assigned a number in which someone else it trying to evade collectors. It's a no win.


DB - if an agency tells you they're going to remove your # they probably will. Problem is the guy most likely owes tons of peeps money - so you're getting call after call from multiple agency.

Also, if 1 agency can't collect the account another one may, so most creditors and debt buyers use multiple agencies for the same account.

Example - most credit card accounts will go through at least 5 different agencies before the bank sells the account to a debt buyer, who will then use another 5 - 10 - maybe even 15 different agencies.

The other problem is the majority of us use the same "skiptracing" software. Skiptracing is the art of trying to find somebody who "skipped out". Lexis Nexis is the big one - anyway, if they show your # for that debtor agencies will again try calling that #.

It's also possible that Experian lists your # for the debtor or any of the other credit bureaus. It can be a royal pain in the ass.

If you do change your #, somebody could pick up your new # and associate it with the same guy and again you go through the same problem - or even worse yet, your new # is from a complete dead-beat and you get more calls for that other person now.

It's a crazy cycle. Best bet is to try and get the agency name and send them a nice letter saying they have been calling your number for a different person and you would like them to stop. That normally works.

good luck
 

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You can sue them for $1000 if they call after you send them a letter not to, but that is when they are actually calling for you not some guy youve never heard of.
 
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Buy a recording device and record every phone call you receive. When they call and ask is XXX there, immediately inform them that the call is being recorded (do this even if you're not recording the call) and ask for the name of the person or entity on whose behalf they're calling; if they refuse to tell you remind them that they're breaking the law, that you will trace the number and see them in small claims court. Give them one more chance and, whether they refuse again or if they do tell you, inform them that this is not XXX's number, that telephone harrassment is a crime, both criminal as well as civil, and to put the number on their do-not-call list and not to call back. Be rude, maybe a little bit obscene and hang up abruptly.
 
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You can sue them for $1000 if they call after you send them a letter not to, but that is when they are actually calling for you not some guy youve never heard of.

One is not required to send them a letter requesting no calls in order to sue them unless one is the person whom owes the debt.
 

HAT

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Just sign up for google voicemail. It will block any numbers you choose and you can also assign custom Vmail messages to individual numbers. Like "This number is no longer in service".

All messages get transcribed and sent to your inbox. The voice recognition sucks but there's also a .wav file attached for easy listening via any browser. Of course you can still call in from your phone as well. And you can forward & save all messages just like any email.
 

Fah-New-Gee
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You can sue them for $1000 if they call after you send them a letter not to, but that is when they are actually calling for you not some guy youve never heard of.

Not true KRK. A person who is not a debtor can sue under the FDCPA for harassment.

They key is that a collection agency may not call a person if they know or have reason to know that the call is

"inconvenient"

Thus, you find out name of company and who they are asking for - advise them future calls to that number is not convenient.

Create a log and document everything and you can win the case. Only problem is if the agency is a small one, they can just as easily go out of business and open up under a different name and get out of the judgment you would win against them.
 

USERNAME OFFICIALLY RETIRED
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UPDATE UPDATE

Collection agencies are getting more aggressive in the tactics they use. Check this crap out. Get a message on my answering machine yesterday from some collection agency asking me to notify my neighbor across the street that he and his wife need to call their number! I won't go into all detail but it creeped me out at first as to how they got my number. I googled the number and they are a collection agency for citibank. I've got a citibank credit card and I bet you citi provided my number. I'm pisssed that my info is being used in this manner by Citi. Been a member for 10 years now and now contemplating of cancelling even though I know it would not be good for my credit rating to do so.
 
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This line isn't effective at all; collection agencies hear it all the time. Letting them know (or making them think) that you know the law and know how to sue is very effective. The OP should use these tactics against the cockroaches looking for his neighbor.
 

Fah-New-Gee
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UPDATE UPDATE

Collection agencies are getting more aggressive in the tactics they use. Check this crap out. Get a message on my answering machine yesterday from some collection agency asking me to notify my neighbor across the street that he and his wife need to call their number! I won't go into all detail but it creeped me out at first as to how they got my number. I googled the number and they are a collection agency for citibank. I've got a citibank credit card and I bet you citi provided my number. I'm pisssed that my info is being used in this manner by Citi. Been a member for 10 years now and now contemplating of cancelling even though I know it would not be good for my credit rating to do so.

DB - Your neighbor now have a formal cause of action against the collection agency that called. They CANNOT ask you to take a message to the neighbor. They can only call you and ask for "location information" only. If you googled their telephone number, you now have their name. Send them a letter via certified mail telling them the calls to you regarding your neighbor are "inconvenient". If they call you again you then have a cause of action against the agency.

As for Citibank providing your telephone number - nope. Not even close. I've done businss with Citi at 2 of my previous employers and they do nothing to endanger the relationship with you.

There are multiple "skiptracing" services out there that buy every published telephone number and aggregate the data so we can look at a street map and get telephone numbers based on address, not name. The major companies that provide this information is Lexis-Nexis and Axciom.

Don't be mad a Citi. Also keep in mind that just because an agency collects for Citi it doesn't mean that every account placed at the agency is a Citi account or that they are collecting on a Citi account in this particular instance. Citibank will NOT do business with a collection agency unless that collection agency is doing business with another top-10 bank and you have to have at least 80 collection associates before Citi will bring you on as a new agency, so there's as likely a chance that the original creditor is Citi as it is somebody else.

PM me if you need more info in private or have any other questions post-em up here.
 

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Baccy, I have had a collector who I was settling with and was in the middle of payments when they sold the same account to another collector and kept my partial payment of $600. Wife called for info and they said they would not talk to her about it, it was sold to another company. Wondering if I have recourse? I settled the debt with the other collector. I plan on filing a complaint with AG office. I talked to 2 lawyers and they said they never heard of this happening before, but never got back to me after stating they would look into it. I'm thinking the 600 ain't worth their time?

The number one advise I could give anyone planning on settling with these bottum feeders is get everything in writing. I have the autowithdrawl notice from the first company and can get bank records proving I paid them 600. I just got the notice from the company I paid in full of debt resolved, matter closed.
 

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"the attorney general" those are the words that put fear in heart of telemarketers. just say the attorney general has been contacted and they usually stop calling
 

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