How to use Google Vocie to avoid creditor calls pre-filing????

[seanp951]

Ok. i've lurked on this forum for quite a while. my wife and I found a great BK lawyer who we have consulted with a few times...we are preparing to file and have stopped paying all the unsecured stuff. we plan to file in a few months.. are tyring to save up some cash so we can pay the attorney and put some small amount of money aside during the plan..

we are starting to get tons of calls.. we apparently made the mistake of having our cell phones listed with many of our credit card companies... several years ago when we opened some of these accounts, we did NOT have a home phone.. we used our cells only. we do now have a home phone as well.

we are getting barraged with calls to the hosue AND to our cell phones. heck, just the other day Chase called me at WORK.. and not to my direct line but to the main /office number.. kind of embarrasing that reception has to send a credit card call to my desk..

my wife and I both have GV numbers... we use them intermittenty.. i use mine with work contacts but we don't use them for personal calls.... any true freind/relative calls our cell most of the time and not the house.

we are debating about simply disconnecting our home phone..and going back to cells only. that would cut down a monthly bill..as well as make many of those annoying calls go away.

i was curious - for those of you who strategically planned your BK - how did you alter contact into to avoid all the harassing calls?

we have started going online and changing our contact info and putting down our GV numbers as the main contactg info for our accounts. i'm not sure if simply changing the numbers online will cause them for "forget" our old numbers... or not. i woudl imagein the credit card companies are smart enough to hang onto old numbers..and if you suddenly change numbers..they may revert to trying to reach youa t older used numbers?

or by going online and making all our credit cards use GV as our contact numbers.. will they start using those??

also - assumign we dump our home phone..and start getting piles of CC calls to GV.. does GV have a way to block certain numbers? i believe it does..but i've never had the need to block anyone that way yet. i know my cell phone will allow me to block certain nymbers..but i Have to pay a montly fee to add that feature..annoying.

is there a way to force even calls TO my actual cell phone nuymber to be routed through GV and then back to my cell phone?? at least to screen out the people i don't want to deal with?

anyone with advice on how to setup our phones so we can send all these harassing calls to a black hole?

also - once we file.. do the calls *really* just stop?? or do they just call harass you anyway??? the lawyer said they will stop.. i was just curious if they really do stop or if some creditors still bothere you? most of our bills right now are still with the actual credit card companies.. i think ONE went to a collecitonsa gency

[lrprn]

we are getting barraged with calls to the hosue AND to our cell phones.

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to stop the calls to both your house and cell numbers until you actually file. The creditors and collectors have every right to call until the filing is official. Then within days the calls completely stop as each are notified about the filing. It is a wonderful silence after months of constantly ringing phones!

eck, just the other day Chase called me at WORK.. and not to my direct line but to the main /office number.. kind of embarrasing that reception has to send a credit card call to my desk..

If the creditor can't reach you personally, then they have the right to call friends and family members. Many go ahead and call family and work anyway hoping to wring dollars out of you from the embarrassment they are causing you. It's quite deliberate and purposeful.

To stop the calls to work, tell the creditor or collector that you aren't allowed to get personal calls at work and to call you only on your house phone. The creditor/collector will be in violation of the Fair Debts Collection Act if they continue to call you at work after you tell them you aren't allowed to take their calls there.

we are debating about simply disconnecting our home phone..and going back to cells only. that would cut down a monthly bill..as well as make many of those annoying calls go away.

If you truly don't need the house phone, then disconnect it.

i was curious - for those of you who strategically planned your BK - how did you alter contact into to avoid all the harassing calls?

What many folks do during this frustrating pre-filing time with the phones driving you crazy is get a pay-as-you-go cellphone and give the number out ONLY to family and friends with clear instructions they are NOT to give it to anyone who calls no matter what they say. It will take a while for the creditors and collectors to track it down (if they decide to - they may not). In the meantime, stop answering your current cells and the house phone.

We just decided to turn on caller ID and screened our calls so we would answer only calls from family and friends. No one ever said you have to answer the phone every time when creditors call. Once you've identifiied that they have indeed reached you successfully, you can let the phone ring after that. If the ringing drives you crazy, turn the ringer off and check messages once a day. Strip off all the creditor messages and enjoy the time back not spent talking to them.

i'm not sure if simply changing the numbers online will cause them for "forget" our old numbers... or not.

Sorry - it won't

i woudl imagein the credit card companies are smart enough to hang onto old numbers..and if you suddenly change numbers..they may revert to trying to reach youa t older used numbers?

Correct. And if they can't find you, some will put out sniffers to find any new numbers. It's really not that hard to find someone if you don't mind spending money to do so.

or by going online and making all our credit cards use GV as our contact numbers.. will they start using those??

It's possible. Depends on the creditor/collector.

does GV have a way to block certain numbers?

Here's an explanation from Google about how to deal with unwanted callers on Google Voice - http://support.google.com/voice/bin/...&answer=115089

also - once we file.. do the calls *really* just stop?? or do they just call harass you anyway???

The calls have to stop. All you have to do is say "we've filed and here's our case number." That's it. Any contact after that is a violation of your automatic stay. It does take up to a few weeks for the word to filter through some of the big creditors and collectors - just tell them and they'll take you off the call list right away. The fines for violating the automatic stay can be considerable.

the lawyer said they will stop.. i was just curious if they really do stop or if some creditors still bothere you?

They really do stop. Really!

[michaelrice]

Sometimes if you pay your attorney a small retainer fee, they'll start taking the calls for you. Not all attorneys do this all of the time, but generally speaking, once the collectors know that you're represented, they can no longer contact you directly.

[Diesel73L]

Just FYI-this has been my experience thus far-not saying it will work for everyone, but it has for me, at least for now (I posted this in a thread a while back):

I finally bit the bullet and stopped paying at the beginning of January. I have three different accounts-B of A, Chase, and Citi. Citi was due at the beginning of the month-after about a week they started calling my GV number once or twice a day. A week later they must have dug into my records and found my cell phone even though I "updated it" and called that. I never answered. Last week they called me at work (I don't remember giving them that number-oh well) and I simply stated that I cannot take personal calls at work and they asked what number to call on. I gave the GV number and said that they cannot call me on any other number. The girl on the other end cheerfully complied and hung up. They have called everyday, twice a day since on the GV number so things have been quiet.

Since then I have defaulted on all of my cards and now all three banks call multiple times a day every day, but only on the GV number. How long that will last I don't know.

[october99]

I used Google voice to deflect collection calls during that time. I went into each cc acct prior to defaulting and erased all traces I could of my number (cell) and input the GV. One thing about sending to GV is that you need a message there that tells them they have reached you. This confirms that it is your number and they can leave you a message. Many of my creditors were satisfied with this and I got a ton of GV calls and VM.

The ones that still had my cell I handled in a few ways. One was to isolate their numbers if I could and block them. I could block up to three for free with my carrier and it helped! When it was at it's very worst I installed an app on my cell that allowed me to create a blocked list and create a rule to hang up on them.

Some did try calling family (mostly my dad) and I had to get thick skinned about it for those months.

HTH! Good luck to you.

[keepsmiling]

For a couple bucks a month you can forward calls on your house phone to GV. That way you don't miss anything important. You may already even have call forwarding.

[kjrmom911]

Ok, here is how I handled it. Since I knew I was filing I went online and changed all my contact numbers to my house number, in other words I deleted my cell phone and work numbers. Then I opened a google voicemail. Since I have vonage, I was able to forward all my calls to google and google made callers reveal their numbers. I never heard a ring because I just set it up that way. My family and friends knew to call me on my cell phone since I wasnt answering my house phone. Over a period of two months I received over 200 calls. It was ridiculous. Most of them were from discover. Once I filed I started answering and just gave them my case number. Now no one calls. It does get better.

[oicu812]

towards the end and before I filed I would answer the calls and just mess with em... I know its not the best thing to do for everyone but ya know it sure was fun.

[katztoo]

When we started ignoring calls they started calling my husbands work. I think they find out where you work on your credit report or on your application if you were at your present job. After you file you only need to talk to each one once and give your case number and your phone suddenly will get quiet!