Need advice/info for debt collector calls.

[jimlongley]

As has been noted, Caller ID is easy to spoof.

If you feel like staying on the phone and arguing with them, point out that you are recording the call, and having it traced (Caller ID is NOT the same as the addressing the telephone system uses to route the call). I was a telephone man for 28 years and having the job of investigating such complaints when the phone company was a "monopoly" and such things were easy, so so much now, with multiple carriers and people, as well as businesses, keeping their phone numbers "forever."

If you have ever given your phone number(s) to any business, no matter what, your numbers have been shared.

[casp625]

There is really nothing you can do.

The Federal Trade Commission receives thousands of complaints like this every day and they can not possibly keep up with the complaints. It's illegal for the caller to continue to call after you tell them not to but there is no way to enforce that law.

The best you could do is file a police report and then take them to small claims court. If they're in a different state, they just won't show. You could sue them in their state if it's worth the flight and hotel room. They they will stop calling.

But they will have already sold the debt to another company who will continue to call.

This is incorrect. Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you may entitled to $1,000 per illegal action of the collection agency, if you sue them. Threatening to put someone in jail? Illegal.

Taypo,
Send me a PM and I will give you a resource (not sure if I can post it per the ToS) where you will get better answers. Collection agencies are restricted from certain practices and, like I said, can be sued for $1,000 in court. Make sure you start documenting everything and start recording your conversations. I am not sure if you have to legally inform them they are being recorded so you might want to look it up or at the very least, inform them you are recording the conversation.

[Taypo]

There is really nothing you can do.

The Federal Trade Commission receives thousands of complaints like this every day and they can not possibly keep up with the complaints. It's illegal for the caller to continue to call after you tell them not to but there is no way to enforce that law.

The best you could do is file a police report and then take them to small claims court. If they're in a different state, they just won't show. You could sue them in their state if it's worth the flight and hotel room. They they will stop calling.

But they will have already sold the debt to another company who will continue to call.

This is incorrect. Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you may entitled to $1,000 per illegal action of the collection agency, if you sue them. Threatening to put someone in jail? Illegal.

Taypo,
Send me a PM and I will give you a resource (not sure if I can post it per the ToS) where you will get better answers. Collection agencies are restricted from certain practices and, like I said, can be sued for $1,000 in court. Make sure you start documenting everything and start recording your conversations. I am not sure if you have to legally inform them they are being recorded so you might want to look it up or at the very least, inform them you are recording the conversation.

Oh, I'm pretty well set in that department. I'm ahead of that particular curve. Thanks though.

[LabRat]

...SNIP..You might set up a taping system to record such calls. You have to tell them the call is being recorded "for quality assurance" get that disclosure and their consent on tape first thing. Then, and only then, talk about whatever they have to talk about.

I always thought Texas was a one-party consent state; at least 1 party on the call must consent to be recorded. If you're one of the party on the call then you consent and it should be no issue.

My information may be a few years out of date and I'm not a lawyer, but can anyone clarify?

Thanks, LabRat

[OldCurlyWolf]

...SNIP..You might set up a taping system to record such calls. You have to tell them the call is being recorded "for quality assurance" get that disclosure and their consent on tape first thing. Then, and only then, talk about whatever they have to talk about.

I always thought Texas was a one-party consent state; at least 1 party on the call must consent to be recorded. If you're one of the party on the call then you consent and it should be no issue.

My information may be a few years out of date and I'm not a lawyer, but can anyone clarify?

Thanks, LabRat

One party consent in Texas, YES. On a Telephone NO. Either a court order or warning required.

Federal law kicks in because of the FCC and telephones.

[Javier730]

There is an app on android and smart phones called caller id faker. You simply type the number you want to call and the number you want to show up. I'm sure there are other ways though.

[Macgyver]

I've had luck in the past filing complaints with the FCC regarding issues unrelated to debt collection. It looks like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau handles debt collection complaints. It's pretty easy to do online. It looks like your issue falls into multiple categories.

[JALLEN]

...SNIP..You might set up a taping system to record such calls. You have to tell them the call is being recorded "for quality assurance" get that disclosure and their consent on tape first thing. Then, and only then, talk about whatever they have to talk about.

I always thought Texas was a one-party consent state; at least 1 party on the call must consent to be recorded. If you're one of the party on the call then you consent and it should be no issue.

My information may be a few years out of date and I'm not a lawyer, but can anyone clarify?

Thanks, LabRat

One party consent in Texas, YES. On a Telephone NO. Either a court order or warning required.

Federal law kicks in because of the FCC and telephones.

It didn't help or "kick in" when Linda Tripp taped her phone calls with Monica Lewinski. IIRC, Tripp was in a 2 party state, but had she been in a one party state, she would have been in the clear. If federal law "kicked in" it wouldn't matter what law the state had.

I didn't know whether Texas is a one party or two party state, but the act of getting consent might have the salutatory effect of sobering these bums up a little, let them worry about what they are saying instead of you doing all the worrying.

[jmorris]

Nice little booklet here, prepared for reporters, covering wiretap laws in all 50 states. Realize it was prepared in 2012..

http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-recording-guide

[Abraham]

Why not go the simple route of not answering the phone?

Let it roll to voice mail.

Easy.

[Mike S]

I'll try to make this as brief as possible. My wife received a call on her cell phone while we were driving to New Braunfels last week. The caller ID indicated it was from our residence. Thinking it may be my brother who comes by to feed the dogs and pick up mail she answered and was surprised by a male voice she didn't recognize. It turned out to someone from Evergreen Acquisitions. He wouldn't explain how he was able to route a call from him through, but he said he was calling in reference to a debt owed by her brother. My wife started helping her mentally ill brother about a year ago and got him into an assisted living home. She assumed it is a debt (don't know how old) he had that was sold to Evergreen for collection. We have no idea how they got our home phone number as it is unlisted nor how they had her cell phone number. The representative gave her some background and made threats that her brother was facing criminal charges for the debt, which from the info he gave her was a pay day loan. If she didn't pay it right then and there it would be increase by a thousand dollars. Once I figured out who was calling and the threats he was making I told her to hang up. Unfortunately, she instead told the guy to mail the information to our house or email it to her. Of course he never emailed anything.
Today (five days later) we returned from our trip and while unpacking the phone rang indicating it was my wife's cell phone. She was in another room so I answered it. It was Evergreen again and the idiot on the line kept insisting I was her brother. I demanded to know how he routed a call from her cell phone to our home phone and he said they have a system to accomplish that. I informed him I wasn't who he was seeking and to never call either my home or my wife's cell phone again. He kept saying he was going to arrest me (he still thought I was her brother) and all sorts of things. I got very angry, informed him we're filing a complaint with the AG and hung up. My first question: how is it possible to route a call like I described ? and my second question is : is it legal?

Puma Guy,
Has your brother-in-law confirmed that he actually has an outstanding Payday Loan? So far we're going on the assumption that Evergreen Acquisitions is a real collection agency. The only Evergreen Acquisitions I found on a quick Google search was a real estate firm in Washington State (Evergreen Acquisition is a software program used at a library as well).

The nature of what you described (unless of course he actually has a defaulted loan...) fits with a variety of scams. One lady reported that when she was targeted for the Payday Loan scam they went as far as to call & pester her parents, brother, & grandmother.

As indicated in the post above, there's tons of data on us available.

Here's a link for similarly worded scams to be aware of via the Federal Trade Commission: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/phant ... on-notices . If you scroll down a bit, there's one from San Antonio in Aug 2014 referring to a ' Global Acquisitions' very similar to yours.

[JALLEN]

Nice little booklet here, prepared for reporters, covering wiretap laws in all 50 states. Realize it was prepared in 2012..

http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-recording-guide

That is handy. Hopefully it is accurate! Laws don't change that often in this area, but can change without much advance warning, a court decision interpreting a statute etc.

[VMI77]

I try to put as many obstacles as possible in the way of anyone seeking my personal information. We get no mail at our residence. All our bills go to a PO Box. When a store asks for a phone number I make one up. My wife and I don't give out our cell numbers to anyone but friends and family. With rare exceptions, if an email address is needed I either use a throwaway address, or if it's important enough, sometimes my work email. My personal email is pretty much for friends and family only. I use paypal for online orders whenever possible so my credit card information isn't widely circulated. I don't answer any phone call unless I recognize the calling number. Of course if a recognized number is being spoofed you're going to get tricked at least once. I've only had one spoofing incident. The way I handled that was to tell the legitimate caller his number was being spoofed and to leave a message when he called....and if we were available we'd call right back. These measures don't work 100%, but they help.

[c.edgington]

It looks as though you've gotten some good information. Just to add in, I work in an industry adjacent to collections/debt buying/lending etc... I just got back from a conference and the big scoop right now is all about regulation from CFPB/TCPA... More or less, if you revoke consent to be contacted on a particular line (even better if it's a cell phone) they have to quit calling you. If they don't, then it's a fine. What happens after that, I don't know. DEFINITELY make a complaint to the CFPB, ASAP!

[JALLEN]

It looks as though you've gotten some good information. Just to add in, I work in an industry adjacent to collections/debt buying/lending etc... I just got back from a conference and the big scoop right now is all about regulation from CFPB/TCPA... More or less, if you revoke consent to be contacted on a particular line (even better if it's a cell phone) they have to quit calling you. If they don't, then it's a fine. What happens after that, I don't know. DEFINITELY make a complaint to the CFPB, ASAP!

Do you have a link to those regs?