I moved right before I stopped making payments, so I kind of fell into this idea and thought I'd share just in case it helps someone. For me, even a call I don't answer makes my heart race no matter how resigned I am to what's happening, and this saved me countless hours of heartache.
I had obviously shut off my apartment phone when I moved, and one creditor found me because I'd been referred to their company by the family member I'd moved in with. Getting a call at their house was so fun I can't tell you. So I told the company I was only at that number for a visit, and gave them the number for my old TracFone that I'd planned on changing the # for but never got around to.
Then I thought about it more and started proactively giving that number to all the creditors, meanwhile buying a new one (the cheapest are $10, but the $20 ones have a chip to automatically double your minutes) for my "real" phone calls. I hadn't been looking forward to calling the Philippines to spend an hour changing my TracFone #, so that was an added bonus; who cared if I left it in the old area code?
So if you're in the early stages, it might be a good idea to drop $10 on the cheaper TF model (since you won't really be using the minutes anyway and don't need the double). You can buy minutes in as little as $10 increments, and they last 3 months before you have to either buy more or let it die.
Leave it on silent if the phone has that option, or on vibrate and hide it somewhere you can't hear it (even hearing it vibrate made me nervous, so why even think about it if you can avoid to?) You could shut it off, but then it just goes straight to VM without ringing and that might make their computers think it's an invalid number. And you should leave it out on the occasional day when you're not feeling particularly vulnerable so you can answer a few calls and say, "Oh, she's not here right now, could I take a message?" just so they know not to give up and try something more drastic like calling all the Smiths in the book.
$10 every three months to keep your regular phone free of creditors? Worth it, much?
Even after my BK, any and all companies I deal with in the future are getting a dummy TracFone # (not a FAKE one, just one I don't use for any other purpose, kind of like the email you set up for places you KNOW will be sending you spam), and outgoing calls are going through Skype so they can't trace the call. I don't anticipate ever being in trouble again, but then again, I didn't anticipate it THIS time, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Plus, all the telemarketing calls from when they sell my # to their "affiliates" while using every loophole in the telemarketing laws will go to the dummy #, too. Enough of this BS.
Y'all have a nice day, now.
I had obviously shut off my apartment phone when I moved, and one creditor found me because I'd been referred to their company by the family member I'd moved in with. Getting a call at their house was so fun I can't tell you. So I told the company I was only at that number for a visit, and gave them the number for my old TracFone that I'd planned on changing the # for but never got around to.
Then I thought about it more and started proactively giving that number to all the creditors, meanwhile buying a new one (the cheapest are $10, but the $20 ones have a chip to automatically double your minutes) for my "real" phone calls. I hadn't been looking forward to calling the Philippines to spend an hour changing my TracFone #, so that was an added bonus; who cared if I left it in the old area code?
So if you're in the early stages, it might be a good idea to drop $10 on the cheaper TF model (since you won't really be using the minutes anyway and don't need the double). You can buy minutes in as little as $10 increments, and they last 3 months before you have to either buy more or let it die.
Leave it on silent if the phone has that option, or on vibrate and hide it somewhere you can't hear it (even hearing it vibrate made me nervous, so why even think about it if you can avoid to?) You could shut it off, but then it just goes straight to VM without ringing and that might make their computers think it's an invalid number. And you should leave it out on the occasional day when you're not feeling particularly vulnerable so you can answer a few calls and say, "Oh, she's not here right now, could I take a message?" just so they know not to give up and try something more drastic like calling all the Smiths in the book.
$10 every three months to keep your regular phone free of creditors? Worth it, much?
Even after my BK, any and all companies I deal with in the future are getting a dummy TracFone # (not a FAKE one, just one I don't use for any other purpose, kind of like the email you set up for places you KNOW will be sending you spam), and outgoing calls are going through Skype so they can't trace the call. I don't anticipate ever being in trouble again, but then again, I didn't anticipate it THIS time, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Plus, all the telemarketing calls from when they sell my # to their "affiliates" while using every loophole in the telemarketing laws will go to the dummy #, too. Enough of this BS.
Y'all have a nice day, now.
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