Nothing like a supposed attorney to mess up my holiday.

[optimistic1]

So, Im sitting here relaxing, eating some barbecue, and then the cell phone rings. Its my Dad, and he tells me that an "attorney" has called his house two times asking for my wife, who's last name they were using was her maiden name. The only credit account that still has her name on it, is none other than Chase, the one creditor I dread the most about potentiality to sue.


What baffles me is this.

My wife has never even lived at my parents house, and the last name is totally different. Further, I don't see why they just did not call us, they have our phone number, and mailing address. Why call my parents on a holiday and bug them about my wife's credit card debt?

It's like some sick tactic that they use to let your whole family know you are having financial difficulties, in hopes that they will give us some money to take care of it.

Also, what attorney would have all day long on Memorial Day to call in the morning and then in the afternoon? It sounds like a collector to me, posing like he is an attorney.

I would like to find out who it is that is calling them and call them back, my parents did not catch a name or phone number, but they said they were an attorney, which I believe is just a total lie.

I am going to be filing soon, so if they want to come and sue me, then come and get your whole 1 months worth of garnishment, as****es!

I cant wait until they call my mom and dad again so that I can get all their info and promptly send them a c&d letter. eat that

[bk4sky]

it DEF sounds like a collector posing as an attorney, which is not even legal.

They must have been skip tracing and somehow got your parents number, but again, if they have your info that is also something they should have not been doing, im pretty sure thats illegal too.

[frustrated7]

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this. It sounds pretty similar to what we went through before we filed. Even though all creditors had our current contact information and we talked to them multiple times, they would often call my parents. We don't live with my parents and I don't have their last name anymore either. The creditors all were well aware we didn't live there and knew how to contact us, but they repeatedly attempted to shame us into paying by harassing my parents. We had sent many cease and desist letters, we had an attorney, and our attorney had also sent multiple C&D letters, yet they kept calling my parents. When my parents would tell them we don't live there, that we had an attorney, and to not call them again, some of the creditors would even yell at my parents and tell them they were going to keep calling every day until I paid them. My parents had to threaten to file harassment charges against one collector to get him to stop calling, because he called every day at 8am and at 9pm, same guy every time, and they don't screen their calls. It was a horrible experience, and those bastards are the reason my parents found out what was going on with us, which I would much rather have kept private.

I highly doubt an attorney contacted your family members. There are many collection agencies which have legal sounding names but are not attorneys. One of the collectors who called my parents even tried to tell them that he was OUR attorney and needed an alternate number to reach us...umm, they thought that was mighty fishy. Of course, most of them would not even give their contact information. Some of them even accused my mother of really being me and tried to threaten her that they were going to take legal action against her and that they would not stop calling her until she paid them.

Like I said, I'm sorry you are going through this. Know that once you file BK, even those who refuse to follow the law now will honor the automatic stay or they face serious consequences if they don't. Good luck to you.

[optimistic1]

I will travel to the ends of the earth to sue them if they attempt to keep calling my parents after I send them a C&D letter. I can't believe they would do this crap, good thing I already told my parents I was filing a bk, but I don't want these bastards bothering my parents. thanks for the well wishes frustrated.

[justbroke]

Yes, that sounds like a collector pretending to be an attorney, which is illegal! Also, modern "skip-tracing" techniques are pretty spectacular and can tie you to people. So if she ever lived with her parents (highly likely) and ever had one single bill EVER go to their home... they are now linked... forever!

[bk4sky]

good thing I already told my parents I was filing a bk

yeah, i told my mom i was filing but didn't and wont tell my dad. One creditor skipped my neighbor, thank god my mom answered the door when he came over with the number! i quickly called and gave them all my info and told them i was filing, then another one left a message on the AM at my parents that my dad got to, i just acted surprised when he gave me the info, other than that those were the only ones.

[optimistic1]

it's weird, because the only person that lived there was me, over 12 years ago, she never lived there, although she may have used their phone number on some type of application at one point in time. I just dont see how they linked my wife with my parents, and all they had was her maiden name.

I can't wait until they call me and try that crap where they say they are from a "firm". I'm gonna be like, you mean a collection "agency"? You moron!

[dingdong]

Hey Bk4sky,

What all is involved with skip tracing? What databases/resources do they use?


DD

[justbroke]

it's weird, because the only person that lived there was me, over 12 years ago, she never lived there, although she may have used their phone number on some type of application at one point in time. I just dont see how they linked my wife with my parents, and all they had was her maiden name.

The phone number can do it too. The way they can link people is quite impressive these days. The data that is mined these days is extensive and I'm actually afraid of some of this ability to track people. Those CRAs keep historical addresses, phone numbers, and other data forever (so it seems)! Very easy to link address and phone numbers.

So since you lived there, they tied her to you, and then you to that old address. That's skip-tracing at its perfection. (Sorry, that I seem to be liking this purely invasive data mining... but it's both impressive and scary to me at the same time.)

I can't wait until they call me and try that crap where they say they are from a "firm". I'm gonna be like, you mean a collection "agency"? You moron!

LOL... what's your number?

[optimistic1]

its just a desperate attempt for them to back me into a corner to pay for the debt, by using my parents, and humiliating me, and annoying them. It's too bad that I know my rights and the inevitable filing of the petition and the almighty automatic stay will soon put up an impenetrable wall for them.

I SPIT ON THEM!!!!!!!!!!!

[BigJohn]

They tried getting your goat just like they do me. All they want is money. Be glad it wasn't your birthday.

[Flamingo]

When you applied for the credit card, the application always asks for a relative not living with you, their address and phone number. Do you remember who you listed for that information? Bet it was your dad.

[optimistic1]

Yup, I bet my wife filled that out or I did online when I filled out an application. I know for a fact that auto dealers consistently ask you that very question, and we did put their name on it as a reference, not sure if they can store or mine that information though.

The audacity though, they have my mailing address and phone #, our work phone #'s, but they still go for the low blow and start calling relatives anyway, freaking bs.

[bk4sky]

Hey Bk4sky,

What all is involved with skip tracing? What databases/resources do they use?


DD

i just typed this huge long response and did something and lost it! lol.

The biggest skip tracing tool is online in general, you can google the debtors name for info on them, theres whitepages.com, there's alot of others like whitepages.com but that was always my personal favorite free one.

The credit report in general is a great skip tool, alot of times on there you can find the correct address, ph, cell ph, their place of employment.

Also if its something that you had to give references for, they will try the refrences.

then theres the skip tools that the company pays for. the one i used before was called Accurint. All you have to do is type in the debtors SSN, it will pull up most recent addy, previous addy's, then you just click a diff button and it will show you the neighbors, then theres another button for relatives/associates.

heres a skip tracing trick i know i posted in several threads about the internet: google your own name in parenthesis "john doe" and see what comes up, it can be suprising as to what comes up.

to the OP- say im looking for your wife, i take her SSN and put it accurint, your her husband so it probably showed your current addy as her current addy, when they clicked for relatives your parents house prob came up and thats how they got the number, even if they had her maiden name it wouldnt matter, they can perform SSN searches, which also shows all the names you may go by.

dingdong- any other questions on skip tracing feel free to PM me, im sure i missed some.

to the OP- but what i don't get is if they have a correct contact number for you then they shouldn't even be skipping for a number, they shouldn't have posed as an attorney...everything about what they did is wrong.

also- when skip tracing you cannot say what you are trying to reach the person about, all you can do is ask for the debtor, ask them for a better number to reach the debtor at, or ask them to take a message, and you are only allowed to leave a message with a relative or neighbor 1x, you cant keep calling that person, if they have no info on the debtor then you don't call them anymore.

[Flamingo]

bk4sky mentions a good point - googling your name in parenthesis, or you can also do it in Quotes, both your name and phone numbers, including cell phone numbers. If you are on Facebook. MySpace or Classmates.com or any other social network, it all comes up, and if you are in the phone book all that pops up also. If you have been quoted in any newspaper, article or publication, your name will appear. A person is very easy to find even without an SS number.