Can you believe this?

[shabam]

I was late on a payment with my Amex account and within 24 hours they were calling my mother in law to speak to me. WTF?

I tell you, the consumer has zero protection in this country.

[BigJohn]

I was late on a payment with my Amex account and within 24 hours they were calling my mother in law to speak to me. WTF?

I tell you, the consumer has zero protection in this country.

I agree. Now if you called the collector's mother-in-law, what would the collector say you were doing?

[EricaCallaha]

Discover used to do that to me. I wrote them a letter and told them what my exact contact numbers were. They were not to call any other number for me as they had all of my current information. They never did it again.

It really irritates me that they even do this in the first place. Like calling your mom is suddenly going to make money appear in the bank for you to pay them.

[ready2puke]

Hummm...I wonder if I blew it..I just went into my Avanta account and put in fake phone numbers...first time I've ever done that.
Think I should go back and put the real ones in?

[albacore44]

How do they know who your mother-in-law is ??

How do they know who your mother-in-law is ??

I went into every account on-line prior to my stopping payments last month, and put in my new ph # that rolls right to a voice mail, and deleted any cell #'s. I also added the # other cards were calling me from to the alternate contact # . that will confuse them a bit . they might think I work for a bank. Some how Chase still has both mine and my wifes cell #'s. as each # comes in I add them to my verizon block list , so they wont get through. I'm not avoiding them, I will just call each one on my time.

[shabam]

How do they know who your mother-in-law is ??

I have no idea. Obviously we don't share the same name and I opened up the account after my wife had already changed her surname to mine. She is not even listed as an additional card holder.

[shabam]

Discover used to do that to me. I wrote them a letter and told them what my exact contact numbers were. They were not to call any other number for me as they had all of my current information. They never did it again.

It really irritates me that they even do this in the first place. Like calling your mom is suddenly going to make money appear in the bank for you to pay them.

They are trying to use guilt / scare tactics. F--k em! I am on the verge of bk. Why would I give a crap about what anyone thinks about it. Its not as if anyone who finds out and talks shit about me is going to help me anyway.

I just feel sorry for the people they scare using this guilt trip.

What pisses me off is that they have the right to call anyone they choose and discuss my details. I have lived in numerous countries overseas and we couldn't even call a bank and discuss my own accounts without going through a number or checks to verify it is me on the phone. The same tactics in Europe would equate to large fines for the banks for privacy breaches and possibly harassment.

[BigJohn]

Hummm...I wonder if I blew it..I just went into my Avanta account and put in fake phone numbers...first time I've ever done that.
Think I should go back and put the real ones in?

I had 2 business lines at my business. One line was dedicated to the alarm system and was also used as a private land line for myself. Just before I stopped paying my credit cards, I disconnected my 2nd land line and replace that phone with a dedicated cell phone you pay a one time fee for. It turned out I had used the 2nd landline as my personal phone with creditors. When they called, they were told the phone was disconected. No problem.

[lalap123]

AE called my mother (out of state) when I'd been late about a month or so. What made me really mad is that I'd been in contact with them, just not answering every single one of their phone calls! When I called them back to ask why they called her they said that they keep on file and can and will call every number that you had ever called them from. Seems like I must have paid a bill using her phone while I was visiting and they picked it up. I did tell them that that was not a correct number for me and asked that they remove it. Personally I don't think they ever really remove any numbers - they keep them all so that if they really need to track you down they can go back into your file. Updating numbers is all well and good but I don't think it's foolproof.

[optimistic1]

Next, they will be like the mob.

[BigJohn]

Next, they will be like the mob.

They are the mob.

[walkthaplank]

The mob will just break your legs until you pay, these guys try to screw with your family...

[optimistic1]

The mob will just break your legs until you pay

Yes, precisely, who knows what is next in this country, lol.

[cag]

I'd rather deal with the Mob...

[dingdong]

It is easy to find who you are related to.

Go to the Peekyou website and enter your name in the search field, even your kids show up.

That is why you should never have a Facebook/Myspace page unless you want to be found by people you don't want to find you.

Less than a half hour on the internet and you can find out all kinds of things about people, where they hang out, what they did last night, who their friends are, who their relatives are, where they work...

The less posting of "stuff" the harder it is to find you when you want to remain anonymous.