Message from a debt collector and debtor

[SOYFSB]

I'd just like to clear a few things up. 1st all collectors are not morons, althought after being screamed at sworn at called every name in the book for 8 hours straight I do sometimes feel a few brain cells lighter. I want to help some of the people here b/c honestly as both someone who has debts of my own, and a debt collector, I really do know a few things about this. 1st I hear plenty of people here complaining about how they are spoken to by D.C.'s Well honestly you get what you give. If someone calls you and starts telling you why they are calling and you inturrupt and say I know and I've told you people 50 times I'm not paying this so stop f-ing calling me blah blah blah so on and so fourth. OK 1st we CAN NOT stop calling you ohhhhh I wish we could but we cant not just because you say you want us to. I don't know how many people a day I tell to send me a cease and desist letter, which is a letter,basically saying in writing, to stop calling you(which does work once received we can call you once more to tell you we got it, and then not again). I probably tell 50 people a week to send this letter, I get MAYBE 3 a month. Honestly! If you dont intend on paying this...ever... just send the damn letter! It'll save us both alot of headaches! However, if you do plan on paying your debt at some point but dont have the $ today and dont want to receive 20 calls a day, all you need to do is (with out being rude please!) explain you're situation. You dont need to make up some crazy story or have some detailed excuse all you need to do is tell the truth. "Listen I'm (insert reason you cant pay right now here) hopefully within a month or so Ill be able to pay something (even if you know it'll be longer than a month its fine really) Just please dont give an exact date that you'll be paying if you know its not the case, dont say yeah Ill pay that Fri call back I'll give you my checking acct all that'll do is increase your calls fri when we are calling you every 10 min to make your supposed pymt, and when we dont get aholda you back on the dialer and back to 20 calls a day you go. If you politlely tell the person you speak to that you intend to pay this but not sure of exact day you'll notice you only get 1 call per wk rather than 20 a day. A big thing I dont think people understand is that until we have contact w/ you the debtor we can (and probably will)call as many times a day as it takes until we get contact. We then note the account that we spoke w/ you and depending on what you said we wont call you for the next 1-6 days. Also IF you are very rude I know lots of collectors who will put on an acct that there was no contact so that person will continue to recieve calls, So maybe try being nice, ALSO saying someone wont be home until 2 am(true or not) will not stop calls b/c as stated before until contact w/ the debtor is made we will continue to call so I hope this was helpfull to someone. The main thing is to be nice it gets you so much more. Now that I do collections I hardly get any calls (cuz i know how to do it) and when i do get my weekly calls Im polite their polite its quick painless and clear for another week.

[OhioFiler]

I'm always nice to the collectors who call.

[ready2puke]

Well I dont talk to any of them, but some that leave me messages are sooooo nice. I did actually call one back and got his voicemail. I told him I understand he has to do what he has to do, but I got no more money and I'm in black hole.
I told him the only reason I called him back at all was to tell him that he was so unbeliveable sincere and really seemed to care about my account. He was a true saint and gentlemen to be soooo nice. And I know how difficult a job like he has is, but I thanked him for his kindness.
I started to cry and then hung up...
I have another guy right now from BofA..that is just as nice.
So yes you are out there and are appreciated at least by me....
For for that you have my thanks...

[fltoo]

I took calls for two years and was always polite. Had maybe one person who was aggressive. The collectors called once a week because I spoke to them every week, telling them I was filing for BK.

I don't believe in calling anyone names especially "scum" which seems to be a favorite word around here.

I don't think people are nasty to collectors as much as arrogant. At first, they are nervous about the calls, but then become empowered when they obtain a lawyer and tend to start getting arrogant with the newfounded power.

Personally, I never felt empowered and did not even give them my lawyer's name until the day after I was actually filed. I still felt badly about telling them I was filing.

[SOYFSB]

I know there are some people who are really nice to us when we call and to those of you that are thank you...really b/c its why I do the job. I used to do customer service but really those jobs are hard to find now as they are mostly outsourced to other countries, so I kinda just fell into a bill collecting job. I'm one of the "nice collectors" people I call, if they do want to pay always say I want your extension I dont want to talk to one of the mean people, but the thing is nice collectors arent that uncommon. Its all in how you treat some one I think and that goes for both parties. Oh and I wanted to clarify something about my prev post, when I wrote about how to get 1 call per week that per agency of course lol. If you have 20 accts you'll still get 20 calls but its better than 20/daily!!!

[BigJohn]

There are some collectors that do go overboard. Those people give the industry a bad name. As long as the collection business allows these people to be employed as collectors, then the collection business has to accept responsibility.

[BigJohn]

Dateline tonight was devoted to the debt collection issue. Some of the collectors filmed and reported were posing as police investigators. As bad as some of the collectors were, they still were in business. I guess crime pays, at least in the US.

[Bell30656]

No matter what that collection agent said up there at the top, when my number comes up on your auto-dialer you are better off going to the next number. I confess that I treat collection agents like the bottom feeding scumbags that they are. I record every call at least half of the time these idiots can be goaded into a violation of the FDCPA.

My favorite are those that have the sense of urgency... "You MUST handle this debt before 5:00 PM TODAY. Let me have your Visa number and I'll take care of it for you..." Yeah right. Not going to happen. The only thing that happens at 5:01 PM is the collector clocks out and goes home.

I'd rather tell people that I had a sister working in a brothel than a brother working as a debt collector. Debt collectors are scum no matter what they tell you. Fortunately there are state laws in addition to the FDCPA that stop the agents from calling multiple times per day once they have made contact and verified that it is the debtor.

End result was that I filed chapter 7 and now I don't owe the scumbags anything. However, I find I miss the phone calls. They were so entertaining.

[junker]

wow, i almost heard violins playing when i read the op.. such a sob story...you said it all, getting 20 calls a day, if some one tells you they dont have the money or cant pay at all, WHY keep calling and harrassing..you said you need to make contact. well why call after you make contact.. you said collectors make notes about rudeness, and call more often.. WHY...just to irritate someone who is obviously having problems.. just to make them worse??....gimmee a break... its just a game with ca,s just as its a game with me trying to irritate ca,s WHY do you freeze bank accounts when you KNOW very well the money is exempt?? WHY...put someone through the needless stress of trying to unfreeze exempt funds WHY??? YOUR JOB is purely to irritate....its not even about collecting money... just to irritate people...

[SOYFSB]

Ok you're all right I'm a scum bag not trying to help any one and none of you are people who get off by treating people like shit. I dont really care if you've had a DC treat you like shit. So? I've had waitresses treat me like shit doesnt mean I'm a ***** as soon as I walk into a restraunt just assuming that every waitress will. And yes I'm a collector but I also owe money to CA's pretty much every one does what makes you different from me? Oh I know I respect people reguardless and you dont. you think you're so much better than me? I dont. Oh and Big boy 2u I wasnt saying you should be nice to every collector, if they are rude go for it rip into em I do! I was saying you get what you give, people like you think you know everything and you're on some power trip um ok I deal w/ people like you all day you dont hurt my feelings. I was trying to give people some tips to help them out trust me, I realize no matter what I write there are always gunna be people like you who get off on putting people down, here, on the phone and in the real world and thats fine buddy whatever floats ur boat. I know I'll never get people like you to be nice to me and Im fine w/ that. And junker I think you misunderstood what I wrote. I did not say they will put a note saying the debter was rude, our accts are audited monthly and I dont think an auditor would think "D is a witch" in the notes would be looked upon too kindly. I said some collectors if they speak to some one rude will put a code for "no contact" which means that person will receive more calls sooner rather than later. Oh and Big boy I dont know when or where you did collections but what I wrote is accurate to the company I work for, we can call a # as many times as it takes to make contact w/ the debtor, and when we get a C+D lttr we call once more to inform that its been received. And to your other comment yeah um Im belittled and lied to like 50 times daily so...yea. OH I forgot I deserve it right cuz Im less of a person then you because of what I do for a living OK.

[fltoo]

Sticks and stones baby. Best way to deal with a name caller is to ignore them.

[albacore44]

are you writing from India ??

[relief13035]

I LOVE THIS FORUM.....I'm going to need depends soon if I keep reading.

[SOYFSB]

Ok Bigboy maybe you're not getting what I am saying as far as the # of calls go. As I stated AND as your little notice stated ONCE CONTACT IS MADE which is what I was saying. BUT if you dont answer your phone they will keep calling. Or if you answer and I say hi can I speak to so and so and the person who anwers say no and hangs up or says they arent here and hangs up, where I work that is not considered contact w/ the debtor and so yes UNTIL CONTACT W/ THE DEBTOR IS MADE WE WOULD KEEP CALLING. Contact is the key word here ok? Im not talking about getting ahold of the debtor and still calling, Im talking about people who see a # on thier caller ID and dont pick up and saying to them, if they did they'd probably get many fewer calls As far as the C+D ok so? I was going by what I was told but reguardless the point is the same if you send one we wont call you any more. You want to argue semantics go ahead I dont really care what some old redneck has to say lol. You've got it all figured out and you dont need any advice from me. I wasnt trying to help you I dont need to. You already know everything right? I had been reading some posts from others before I wrote my 1st post and thought it may be helpfull to someone. Thats all. But really Im actually not gunna respond to you any more cause I spend all day arguing w/ people just like you and thats not why I came here. I came to possibly help someone out since YOU dont need help from me I dont see the point in you continuing to write to me. I know you think you're helping my poor dumb ass but ummm yea not so much youre really just showing what kinda person you are.

[fltoo]

I LOVE THIS FORUM.....I'm going to need depends soon if I keep reading.

OMG Relief, LOL, I thought I was the only one that went through a box of depends reading this forum!!! It's hell getting old.