Just an FYI:

Complaints surge as bill collectors get tough
Oct 30, 2008

It can be very frustrating. Over the last 3 years I have been pestered to pay a bill on a shipment of merchandise that I never received. I have emailed, called and written letters letting the company know the shipment never arrived. Now it has gone to a collection agency and they are even worse. I will continue to tell them the same thing, if I didn't receive it, I will not pay for it.

My 13 YO's cell number apparently belonged to someone who was on a lot of collection lists. She receives 3-5 calls a day from numbers that come up as collections when we google them.

I used to work for a large collection agency when I lived in Phoenix, AZ back in the 90's. I did a very short stint as a collector and skip tracer tho' - my main job was to work the settlement agreements between the banks (think Key Bank, Bank of America, Bank of Wachovia, student loan programs, etc) and those who owed thousands of $$ to them for one reason or another. I never spoke to the person in debt to these banks for this job - I was the liason between the collector and the banks. The collector was the liason between me and the debtor...

However, I learned several things while at this company and for awhile I had a brainfart on how it all worked. But now I'm up and running again and trying to help those who are being hounded by posting articles of interest on the subject and links to sites that may help in such a situation.

I am NOT a legal representative in any way, shape, or form. These ideas listed below are from my personal experience from working a job with a collection agency, as well as having been on the receiving end of their efforts and doing research on the net on how to further handle it!! If you do an internet search on this subject, you will find many sites that offer up the same advice....

First and foremost: the VERY FIRST letter you RECEIVE from these collectors regarding a potential debt? Respond with a letter of denial (deny! deny! deny!) sent Certified mail/Return receipt to the collection agencies address.

But ALWAYS respond in writing - never just ignore it or wait for the calls to start!!! Each of those initial letters will state (in fine print) that you have 30-days from the receipt or date of the letter to dispute the debt.

Don't call the collection agency. Write.

You can talk to these folks until you're blue in the face, but their job is to collect the money you allegedly owe. They don't care what your story is. All they want is the money.

As stated in the article, the collectors are becoming extremely aggressive! Also, sending them a letter Certified mail/Return receipt gives you a legal leg to stand on to go after them through the BBB, State Attorney General's office, or in a court of law if the harrassment continues.

In this letter, clearly state that you are denying you owe this debt and demand that they send you proof it exists. They are legally obligated to send you copies of the original contract at that point. If they can't provide you with it? They are supposed to cease and desist collection efforts from that point forward.

Also, in your letter put them "on notice" and tell them that you want all contact to be made by post only - that there is to be no contact via phone at your home, work, cell, or contact of your neighbors and/or family and/or friends.

Don't forget to keep a copy of the letter you sent for your own records!!! Staple the "Return Receipt" card to the letter once you get it back.....

And while you may not think the collectors may not have that kind of personal contact info? You will probably be wrong! That's what "skip tracing" is all about and every halfway decent collection agency has a skip tracing department... Skip tracers figure out your address and phone number(s) and then those of your nearest neighbors and any friends/family you put down as a potential reference on your application. They will then start calling all those numbers and leave messages at all of those locations for you too.

If the calls get to be too much - they're threatening you with "debtors prison" (doesn't exist anymore), with a lien against your house or car, threatening you with physical harm, etc then buy a little recorder and tape all of the conversations you're having with these collectors and then send copies to the BBB, State Attorney General's office, etc. We have one hooked up to our phone 'cuz I get calls for my second ex-husband's bad debts all the time and I've gotten more than one call regarding an old debt from over 15-years ago!! We report each and every one of them if they get out of hand too....

when we receive an application from a potential tenant we run a credit report for them. We don't look at if they have not paid their medical bills rather if they have anything new within a certain period of time. A potential tenant was up front with us that their credit was not good and when we pulled it we found out that there was things that were not even theirs on the report. They have been getting hounded for a couple years and no one would even help them. We put them into contact with our attorney who sent letters and got them on the path to getting them off there. It is not as an easy process as some people make it sound.

You're right NW - it's not as easy as some folks may claim it is. It takes due diligence and due diligence can take up a lot of time -initially....

However, once you get the hang of it (having form letters on your PC, learn the correct wording, how to merge the proper info into a form letter, etc) it does make it easier to muck through.

Alleged bad debt is sold and resold over and over again. Sometime's just when you think you're done with a particular alleged bad debt, it will rear it's ugly head all over again!

Annoying and frustrating, to say the least....

A form letter, kept on your PC for such an event, comes in handy. Next to no time to make the changes and then send one out.

But the point is: NEVER IGNORE IT.

If you do, you're just begging to be hounded.

Also, did you know that if you dispute a debt showing up on your credit bureaus, you can write a letter to all three of them and they are supposed to validate the debt? If the bureaus can't validate it, then it's supposed to be removed from your credit reports.

If the alleged debt remains on your bureau despite your best efforts, you can still write a letter in 20-25 words or less to state your case of dispute. (i.e. "I dispute this debt because (1) I don't owe it (2) I paid it off (3) it's not mine to begin with." etc...) Your bureaus are then supposed to put a notation by the debt on the reports that it's disputed and "why".

You do have to write a letter to each of the bureaus tho' as one won't share with the other and not everyone uses the same bureaus to check your background....