How Deal With Collection Agencies

[tigergem]

lol. YouMail has a few voice mail recordings that are good, if you don't mind calls actually coming to your phone. One of them states: "At the sound of the tone, please record my following answers to your questions. Yes, yes, no, no, no, yes, yes, no, no and NO." And then it hangs up.

I also like the one that says: "You cannot reach the number you have called from the device you are using. Please consult your instruction card and try again, or dial the operator to assist you."

Actually, I don't have those programmed to answer for any of my own creditors anymore, because I can't. I am pro se. Go figure - now that I have to answer the phone, they don't ever bother to call me!

But I do use both of those recordings on my health insurance company. (Different rant.)

[seamoonil]

Call you repeatedly for the purpose of harassing you
Call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
Call you at work if your employer prohibits it
Use abusive or obscene language
Publish your name in a list of "deadbeats"

[flyinbroke]

Yes, it is true. If you default, you go to collections. ANything less than minimum payment is a default, so why send any money. Even if they agree over the phone, it is not a minimum, and that call will be "forgotten."

[Xue]

http://www.budhibbs.com/First.htm

[Jackdog]

It's funny about the jail comment. My boyfriend has a cousin. He's been in and out of prison most of his life. The easiest job for him to find when he's not in prison, is a debt collector or telemarketer. I'm not saying all of them are criminals but his cousin is a career criminal and it's the one job they never care about his past.

[IJT]

hank you for an informative post, maybe someone can help a "newbie" what does, Call you repeatedly for the purpose of harassing you mean? Like calling more than once a day? Or calling than hanging up on me after I press 9? Or calling numbers that they've been told are not valid to reach me? Or telling me because my cell phone has a different area code than where my home is located they can call me based on my cell's area code and not the time at my home, (I have a CA cell number and live on the east coast, hence I get calls at 11:55PM!) How can I get them to stop this?
thanks

[flyinbroke]

hank you for an informative post, maybe someone can help a "newbie" what does, Call you repeatedly for the purpose of harassing you mean? Like calling more than once a day? Or calling than hanging up on me after I press 9? Or calling numbers that they've been told are not valid to reach me? Or telling me because my cell phone has a different area code than where my home is located they can call me based on my cell's area code and not the time at my home, (I have a CA cell number and live on the east coast, hence I get calls at 11:55PM!) How can I get them to stop this?
thanks

Could be all of the above. I am going for harassment for one CA because they called 47 times in five days since receiving a DV/cease calling letter. Another I am working on "the kill" with called my cell 13 times in under 3 hours, including blocking their number (I know it is them as it is too coincidental that all calls came within a minute of them calling from a known number.) All calls were autodialers. These calls also happened after the DV/CD letter was accepted. In both cases, there were major violations of state laws; this triples the statutory fines, as does the TCPA.

I hear the trick is to have a complaint typed and ready to file at the courthouse, and send the CA a copy. If the only thing that needs to be filled in is the case number and your signature, it adds more than just a letter.

[dawntyoung]

@ Spykid LMBO!!!!! Thats a classic! I want a landline just so I can do that! But I have filed for bk, so I'm good.

[SonnyBoy]

Love this thread! Lots of great info. Hey HRx, I have a personal blog about some of my personal stories regarding debt and I list some links and resources on there. I may use some of yours on there too if that's ok? Great links I'd love to add to my list!

As for collections agents, be really careful with them. I got into the same bind when I defaulted one time on a student loan. They turned over the debt to a collections agency. Once I talked to them, they said I could "rehab" the loan with 9 automatic monthly payments on time. Well, after 7 months, I lost my job, tried to make the last two but couldn't until the 9th month. Didn't hear anything from them. Two weeks later, a different company started calling. The collection agency sold off my collection to ANOTHER agency. Oh, and the 7 months of payments? They kept. The new agency was like "sorry, you deal with us now, whatever you had with them doesn't apply to us". Oh, and they slapped a 19% penalty onto my total debt owed before they sold out (because I didn't do the 9 payments all the way through). So the new company was billing me for all of my loan amount, with no credits for the 7 months I paid in, AND 19% extra that was charged by the first collections company. Talk about getting the shaft!!!

Needless to say I learned my lesson. The full story is on my personal blog at armchaircreditrepair . blogspot . com if you want to read about it and hear about the whole messy situation. You might find some other things on there helpful that I have learned or used. I feel for you.

[GoingDown]

It's funny about the jail comment. My boyfriend has a cousin. He's been in and out of prison most of his life. The easiest job for him to find when he's not in prison, is a debt collector or telemarketer. I'm not saying all of them are criminals but his cousin is a career criminal and it's the one job they never care about his past.

Yes, many debt collectors and even debt collection agency owners are ex-convicts. This is why so many of them are so hostile and at times, willing to break the law and threaten you and scream at you. The scary thing is they have access to your name, date of birth, social security number, etc., puting all of us at greater risk for identity theft, as well.

The law should be changed so that ex-cons cannot work with sensitive personal information such as your social security number. Their computer screen should never show your ss #.

[GoingDown]

Love this thread! Lots of great info. Hey HRx, I have a personal blog about some of my personal stories regarding debt and I list some links and resources on there. I may use some of yours on there too if that's ok? Great links I'd love to add to my list!

As for collections agents, be really careful with them. I got into the same bind when I defaulted one time on a student loan. They turned over the debt to a collections agency. Once I talked to them, they said I could "rehab" the loan with 9 automatic monthly payments on time. Well, after 7 months, I lost my job, tried to make the last two but couldn't until the 9th month. Didn't hear anything from them. Two weeks later, a different company started calling. The collection agency sold off my collection to ANOTHER agency. Oh, and the 7 months of payments? They kept. The new agency was like "sorry, you deal with us now, whatever you had with them doesn't apply to us". Oh, and they slapped a 19% penalty onto my total debt owed before they sold out (because I didn't do the 9 payments all the way through). So the new company was billing me for all of my loan amount, with no credits for the 7 months I paid in, AND 19% extra that was charged by the first collections company. Talk about getting the shaft!!!
Needless to say I learned my lesson. The full story is on my personal blog at armchaircreditrepair . blogspot . com if you want to read about it and hear about the whole messy situation. You might find some other things on there helpful that I have learned or used. I feel for you.

This is why it really doesn't make any sense to try to make payments to a debt collector. Either file bankruptcy or just do what I did-- stop making any payments at all and play chicken with them. You were out all that money for nothing and you still owed the debt. I think this strategy applies for most debts, but student loans, of course, are a whole different story. With a student loan, since they are not bankruptable, and they have no statute of limitations, the best thing to do is to get the loan on an "Income Contingent Repayment Plan" (directly from the government--not a collection agency) where they only take a small percentage of your income above the poverty level, and after 25 years, the unpaid balance of the loan gets discharged.