Dirtbag collectors....

[Scott Shepherd]

Had a voice mail to my parents house, where I haven't lived in 30 years or more, saying they were trying to get in touch with me about a debt.

Oh boy....the joy.....

I'm thinking "Who can this be, I don't owe anyone anything that I'm aware of".

I called them, the guy says "This is on behalf of Verizon". I said "You can stop right there, I don't have Verizon, I've had AT&T for over 10 years".

"Yes, Sir, we're calling about the account you opened in 1999, and closed in 2004".

"Yes, I did, I ported the number to AT&T in 2004".

"Well, we're showing an outstanding balance of $381 and we are attempting to collect the debt"

"You are serious? First of all, I don't owe Verizon anything and never did, my account was 100% paid in full at the time I ported the number to AT&T. Second of all, if I owed Verizon a penny, wouldn't you think that in 12 years, they'd send me one bill, or call me once, since I had the same phone number that I ported from them to AT&T".

"I understand that sir, but we bought the debt and we are attempting to collect the debt".

"There is no debt, I don't owe you anything, nor have I ever owed Verizon a penny. My account was closed in good standing."

And that's how the call went.

I get off the phone, google "How long can they collect debt in my state", pull up multiple sites saying that in my state, there's a 6 year limitation on collecting debt. So they lost the right to collect any debt, if I did in fact owe anything, in 2010. Now, 6 years AFTER the limitation, some dirtbag collection agency is trying to collect the debt. I did some quick research on it and it says that if you don't follow up with all the paper work to stop it, then they'll just go to court, knowing you probably won't show up to court, and then they get the win in court, then it's a new debt that you owe.

Dirtbags.....

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like the guy subscribed to one of those "Make Money at Home with your PC" opportunities.

[Rich Riddle]

You need to read the FDCPA. Under the federal legislation they must now send you a "dunning" letter within five days after contact. There is no rule indicating they cannot hound you after the end of the statute of limitations expires, but there are simply legal ways to get them to stop. If you want to know more to resolve the situation, send a pm. If you want to vent, vent away.... They tried the same thing when I lived full-time in Virginia and I learned a lot.

[Jebediah Eckert]

I just had a similar thing with a gas bill from 2004-2006. We don't have a gas line anywhere near where we live. Make a long story short the debt goes to an attorney office as a collection agency, sometimes multiple times if the previous law offices failed to find the person. I called the law office and everything matched, SS, dob etc. Hmmmm......

I then contacted the gas company legal department. Same name, different SS, different dob, they have since fixed it. They explained to me they farm out finding the person to a law office. The law office conducts an investigation and tries to find the person. They obviously didn't care if they had the right person, they just wanted their cut.

Maybe try calling Verizon and getting it straight on their end? It worked for me. That would be the easiest solution despite what the law says. The longer it goes the harder it is to fix.

[Brian Henderson]

For years, we had collection agencies calling about a debt owed by someone with the same name as my wife. She skipped out on paying for some beauty school. My wife has never been to beauty school but she's the only one in the local phone book with that name. We'd tell them where to shove it and two years later, some other company would buy the debt and we'd have to go through it again. I think they finally gave up, I haven't heard from them in about 5 years, plus we got rid of our land line and they have no easy way to contact us anymore.

[Roger Feeley]

This sounds similar to something I experienced (sort of). It's called subrogation law. I had a knee replacement and my insurance paid for it. Then I get a call from a law firm asking probing questions. Basically, they want to know if they could sue somebody. Apparently, my insurance company turns over records for all big payouts like mine and the law firm gives them a cut. After the fact, I thought maybe I could have given them some name of some person that deserved to be harassed but I'm not that quick or that mean.

[Jim Koepke]

There is a story about a guy who hired a debt collector. He told the collector he would pay him half the amount if he could collect.

After not hearing from the collector he called him on the phone to ask how it was going. The collector told him, "I was able to collect my half, but it doesn't look promising for your half."

jtk

[Rick Potter]

Silly me. I thought this thread was gonna be about dust collectors.

[Bruce Wrenn]

The term is "refreshing the debt." It's totally illegal under the fair credit reporting act. Next time he calls, ask him to send your check for ten grand, as that's the max you can collect. Check out Clark Howard's web site for credit rules. Best one I ever had was Dish Network. Canceled my service in early August. Mid November they send me a box to return their receiver, at my expense. Call them up and tell them too bad, your receiver is in the trash. Couple months later get a letter from a lawyer in PA trying to collect debt. First thing I do is call state bar assoc and see if he has an NC licensee. He doesn't. Next send him a letter reminding him of NC abandoned property law. Dish had sixty days to recover receiver, but I'm entitled to reasonable storage fees for this period of time. Ten bucks a day times 90+ days = $900+. Ask lawyer to send me the money for the first sixty days ($600,) and remind him to contact state bar assoc before they contact him, as he is practicing law in NC without a licensee. Get a letter back saying matter is closed. Then Dish sends me another letter demanding payment, so I send them a copy of original letter to lawyer and his reply. End of story.

[Dennis Peacock]

That kind of stuff makes my head hurt. ;)