Pretty funny

[Lajazz947]

So I get a call today from Barnes and Noble telling me that I could pay them $50 and keep the account current.

I politely told "Eddie" that I was going to file BK and see my attorney tomorrow.

He said " it will cost you more than $50 to see an attorney'.

I said " Eddie, I am not filing BK over your debt of $7000 alone, if I was, I would be a fool".

He then told me that the calls would keep coming.

I said OK.

[No Gravy]

So I get a call today from Barnes and Noble telling me that I could pay them $50 and keep the account current.

I politely told "Eddie" that I was going to file BK and see my attorney tomorrow.

He said " it will cost you more than $50 to see an attorney'.

I said " Eddie, I am not filing BK over your debt of $7000 alone, if I was, I would be a fool".

He then told me that the calls would keep coming.

I said OK.

Buhahahahahaha! Chase said something very similar to me when I first told their rep I was filing BK. He wanted to transfer me to some specialist in another dept, who could "maybe help you so you didn't have to file bankruptcy!"

The guy sounded seriously pleased and proud that he could do this "for me." It was all I could do to stifle a giggle. Do they think they are my ONLY account, much less delinquent account?

[Lajazz947]

Very true.

How things have changed though. I was a delinquent card collector back in 1979 while in college and we were working without computers then. We dialed #'s ourselves, no auto dialers or call centers.

We had paper 3X5 cards and delinquent credit cards got one MAYBE two calls a month.

We used reverse directories which were these HUGE books with addresses in them that gave us phone numbers with addresses if we were missing one or the other.

Can you imagine getting just one or two calls a month? What a relief THAT would be.

[No Gravy]

Very true.

How things have changed though. I was a delinquent card collector back in 1979 while in college and we were working without computers then. We dialed #'s ourselves, no auto dialers or call centers.

We had paper 3X5 cards and delinquent credit cards got one MAYBE two calls a month.

We used reverse directories which were these HUGE books with addresses in them that gave us phone numbers with addresses if we were missing one or the other.

Can you imagine getting just one or two calls a month? What a relief THAT would be.

I remember the days before Google, and those massive reverse directories...not to mention before caller ID was common to have.

::sniff:: I *do* love technology! Today I can pop the phone number into Google and find out who it is, usually before the 4th ring.

Of course there are some unscrupulous collectors (etc) who now fake their outgoing caller ID. Surprisingly, the only one of my creditors who blocks theirs (and it shows up as "unknown") is JCPenney.

[treehugger1]

There is a pretty amazing site out there, www.whocalled.us This seems to be a homegrown site that does its best to give info including 800, 866, etc type numbers. I have pinned down some numbers that no other site would give me without "paying" a fee.

Many folks can also now get a service $4-$5 per month that tells any "unknown or private" number caller that you do not accept any unknown or private calls, please unblock your ID and try the call again.

You do have to love the techno-info age.

[No Gravy]

There is a pretty amazing site out there, www.whocalled.us This seems to be a homegrown site that does its best to give info including 800, 866, etc type numbers. I have pinned down some numbers that no other site would give me without "paying" a fee.

Yeah, that's one of many sites that give info on who called. I think people are just fed up with being harassed...especially when it's not their account, they just got the phone number, etc. I read a lot of comments on those sites where they've told the CR/CA that they have the wrong number, and it doesn't seem to phase the CR/CA.

Many folks can also now get a service $4-$5 per month that tells any "unknown or private" number caller that you do not accept any unknown or private calls, please unblock your ID and try the call again.

You do have to love the techno-info age.

Amen on that last line! I know privacy manager service has been available in some areas from some phone companies since 2000, but never from my home number's phone company. Yet another reason to love VoIP, it's easy to block (or ditch) any caller.

I use YouMail.com as a voicemail service, and you can ditch any caller (so they can't leave a message) with the click of a button. And the best part...it's a free service

[magyar123]

My new message on my answering machine: "If your business name, explaining who you are and WTF you want and your number does not show up on my caller ID I will not return your call."

[soleprop]

Lmao!!!!

[Frogge]

I seriously love reading your guys' posts.... LMAO

[WhatMoney]

On blocked ID calls I sometimes let them listen to this old recording (female operator voice) from the pay phone days:

beep-boop-beep "The call you have made requires a 25 cents deposit. Please hang up momentarily, listen for dial tone, deposit 25 cents, then dial your call again."

Then my system hangs up on them. Confuses the young kids...

[Flamingo]

What I have seen no one mention is the call that also comes in from various lenders who search credit reports for those with high debt and appear to be in trouble with making just minimum payments. I don't know if they still occur from predatory lenders but back in early 2002, we received calls from two lenders advising us not to file that they could help us (right!). They sent us information in the mail which was for a refinancing or second mortgage utilizing all the information gleaned off our credit reports with fees and other charges totaling over $9,000! And they listed some creditors twice in the paperwork for the same amount owed. I never laughed so hard in my life and trashed the stuff but it also made me sick as to how people who are in deep trouble and emotionally wrought can fall for something like this if they don't do their homework and think it will help them.

[soleprop]

what you just posted scares me - i guess i assumed credit reports were not public knowledge (just ours and potential lenders), but duh, landlords can request them so anyone who wants to pay to see it can see it - is that how it works? there's no 'pedigree' or uhm....well you know hurdles for people in general to access our credit reports?

i thought at the very least they had to have our permission.

[Flamingo]

what you just posted scares me - i guess i assumed credit reports were not public knowledge (just ours and potential lenders), but duh, landlords can request them so anyone who wants to pay to see it can see it - is that how it works? there's no 'pedigree' or uhm....well you know hurdles for people in general to access our credit reports?

i thought at the very least they had to have our permission.

I believe you can "opt out" with all three CRA's as to creditors searching your reports to offer you credit so you will not receive credit offers in the mail/phone. We have done that; however, I believe it still leaves open any associated creditors that may be tied into creditors that do have access to your credit reports and I am sure that any creditor that is given permission by you to pull your reports will have access from that point on with soft pulls. All that is going into an area I am not familiar with but I could not believe back in 2002 the calls we would receive from lenders trying to keep us from filing; they were actually predatory lenders in full force gleaning people's credit reports.

[Never_Again]

I have had two creditors act absolutely mortified with my wife, thinking that they were "the only ones." One was for $2400, the other for $1300. I don't think that the $1300 one new what to say when the wife told her that she was less than 1% of the debt we were discharging!

I had another that I owe over $27,000 to offer to "help me out, to prevent my filing" and arrange for a payment plan of as little as $100 per month, with no interest. I didn't have the heart to tell them that this plan would take over 22 years to pay off... I would be 60 years old!

It is amazing as well, how many creditors want to offer you 50-60% settlement deals between the time that you tell them that you are filing, and when you file.

[No Gravy]

What I have seen no one mention is the call that also comes in from various lenders who search credit reports for those with high debt and appear to be in trouble with making just minimum payments. I don't know if they still occur from predatory lenders but back in early 2002, we received calls from two lenders advising us not to file that they could help us (right!). They sent us information in the mail which was for a refinancing or second mortgage utilizing all the information gleaned off our credit reports with fees and other charges totaling over $9,000! And they listed some creditors twice in the paperwork for the same amount owed. I never laughed so hard in my life and trashed the stuff but it also made me sick as to how people who are in deep trouble and emotionally wrought can fall for something like this if they don't do their homework and think it will help them.

Though they aren't getting the information from my credit report, I've had similar "offers" coming out of the woodwork (or more likely, from under every rock) since the NOD was filed on my house.

Some of them I could possibly fooling a lot of people who aren't used to being targeted by or wary of scam artists. Some of the letters appear to be from the FHA (they aren't), etc...offering to "help me avoid foreclosure."