Collection agency is calling for a co-worker, but continues to harass me! what can i do?!?
373308
Sue them. Some stranger who has no connection to you is harassing you and you don't know what to do? Stop being stupid. Get the name of the company, the caller, their address (if possible) and their phone number and Tell them the next time they call that if they call and harass you one more time you will contact a lawyer and begin court proceedings. They're bullying you and you're falling for it. They can't do a thing to you. You own them NOTHING so what can they do to you? Threaten to call a lawyer and the calls will stop PRONTO. Simple.\n\n--\nto hiseasy... what a dumb fcuking plan. Give them your home phone number. Great, now you're establishing a history of contact and initiating a dialogue that could cause a judge to question whether you have a real connection with the person their seeking. And your 300K claim sounds like bullshyt.\n\nNip this in the bud NOW. They have called you, personally, repeteadly, harrassed and threatened you. That's grounds for a lawsuit right there. You don't need to give them your home phone number to prove this. Only an idiot would do that. Give them personal info about you... real fcuking smart.\n\n--\nOk, sorry I called you stupid. But avoiding a lawsuit may not be possible. You're tried telling them not to call, right? did it work? didn't think so. You have to at least THREATEN to file a lawsuit. They're harassing you at work and you own them nothing. It's no different than some stranger off the street bothering you everyday while you go for coffee! C'mon, don't be ... silly. Talking nice to them and pleading with them to stop hasn't worked and is unnecessary. What if it never ends? You came here looking for answers. That's mine. And I'm not the only one who thinks that protecting yourself through the courts is the answers.
184186
You have the right to instruct them not to contact you by phone. As I have written before, the less scrupulous collectors will either not heed your request or worse "transfer or assign" your case to another department in their own company or to another company in league with them so they are honoring your request by playing the shell game. Check the link for your rights under the law.
1074147
Start out by reporting her for disturbing the peace. Do it every time she starts screaming at you. If they won't come out and do anything about it, this is what you do. Go to the Police Dept during regular business hours and file a complaint regarding lack of response on your problem. Tell them that you feel threatened by this woman. Keep a journal of every time you call and everything she does. Write down dates and times for everything. After you have several calls down and several incidents recorded, go to your city or county courthouse and ask the clerk of court about filing for a protection order. A protection order says that she can no longer attempt to communicate with you in any way. She can still yell at your husband or guests, but not you. Once you are at that level, go to your apartment managers again with copies of all this information. Still can't get rid of her? Take your info to an attorney for civil matters. You may have a nice case for a lawsuit. You may also want to have your husband file for a protection order as well. Hopefully you get a good repsonse from the police and she starts getting tickets for disturbing the peace. Do you know her name? You can check with the county courthouse and get her criminal record if she has one. Check with them and see what they will charge you for the information. In my area it's ten dollars for anybody's info. Build up and save your evidence and you should see her going bye bye, before long. If I can be of any further assistance, let me know.
1731
File charges with your local police department for harassment and they should get the person to stop contacting you.
198442
Relax, I can fix your problem real quick with just a phone call and a letter.\n\nCall up the cell phone provider and let them know your account was sent in error to a collection agency, and inform them to call off the dogs.  \n\nThen send a cease and desist letter to the collection agency.  The link below has a sample letter, just change it around to fit your purpose.  \n\nBe sure to include a statement telling them not to call or write to you again.  \n\nBe sure to check your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com to make sure that the collection agency didn't put any negative comments on it.  If so, I've enclosed some additional links that will help you out.\n\nMail the letter Certified USPS so you can prove and track it.  Keep logs of all letters and phone calls that you make in case you need to follow up with legal action.\n\nI'm 99% certain that by following the above advice you will not hear from them again.  Unfortunately, many collection agents are so narrow minded (all the see is green) that you may need to stop them in court.  \n\nIt's very important to note:  Unless the debt is large (at least $1000) many collection agencies won't even try to sue you to recover the debt.  They are content to going after your credit history and messing up your life.  \n\nYou are fighting a war!  Do not fight these guys unarmed.  Knowledge of the law is your only weapon!  Get armed!  Read the links below.
47000
contact the creditor. If it is a large firm ask for the collections department. Attempt to negotiate a settlement that includes elimination of the negatively reported information. Start by saying "can you help me with this". Explain the original problem and staate that you want to make it good. Sometimes they will be sympathetic. At a minimum, if you pay they have to report it as originally charged off but paid.
195335
By law, the collection agency must "validate" your debt.  That means that, upon written request, they have 30 days to supply you with copies of contracts, bills, receipts, and anything that was used to calculate the amount that you owe.  If they fail to supply this, they must remove your information from the credit bureau, and must stop bothering you.\n\nYou are about to go to war!  Do NOT fight these guys unarmed!  Knowledge of the law is your only weapon, go read the links below and GET ARMED!  \n\nYou got an easy slam dunk case here.\n\nFrom this point on, keep a log of every call you make/receive regarding your debt, and copies of all letters.  You will need this if you wish to prosecute.\n\nUse the sample letter I supplied below on how to write a request to validate letter.  Send it by certified mail to the collection agent.  \n\nAfter 30 days, if they do not respond, send letters to the credit reporting agencies, along with a copy of your validation letter, and demand that they remove any negative report that is in your file.\n\nIf the collection agency does respond back, and the information is not given or incomplete, send them another letter and demand it again, but this time threaten legal action if they place anything on your history.\n\nJust keep the credit bureau's informed of the problem, and if they don't remove the history hire a lawyer and sue under the \nFair Debt Reporting Act.\n\nI'm going to bet that you don't owe a lot on this, right?  Less then $200?  They won't even bother to sue you.  They will send it back to the original creditor.  It's not worth the time of the Collection Agent to sue you for that small an amount.  The only weapon they have is your credit history, and if you follow my instructions will stop that.\n\nGet armed!  Read the links below!
335066
I work for a collection agency.  If they call you, tell them you want to pispute the charges.  They will give you an address.  You have 14days from the day they tell you this to write the letter and for them to recieve it.  They will evaluate the vilidity of your claim.  However, if you claim fraud and you are lying and all the calls made were made by you, you will go to prison for fraud.\nThey can give you a settlement...anywhere from 80% of the original bill to 50% of the original bill, depending on what company you are with.  And they might take payments.  Most do.\nGood luck to you.\nRemember, this will affect your credit and collectors report every 30days to the creit bureaus.
983913
It is very easy to get a collection agency to stop calling, you simply send them a letter telling them to do so. Send them a C&D (cease and desist letter). Simply write: "In line with my rights under the FCRA, please do not contact me again in any way, shape, or form regarding this debt". If they contact you again - by phone or mail - they are breaking the law.
871777
They are full of crap, tell them to get bent, it would cost them more to sue than what you owe, collection agencies are all full of hot air, send them a cease and desist letter and never give them any bank info or info of any kind
839375
What seems to be happening here is,the company you had the actual debt with has not closed the account and it has therefore gained small interest,these files are then sent in bulk for a collection agency to sort out,the amount which has been paid still remains as unpaid when sent to the collection agency,so what you need to do is make contact with the persons,company or who ever the debt originated from and in turn they should inform the collections company,the fact that you say you continue to get them off different companys also backs this,has what is also happening one you explain the situation to one collection company and they then send it back to the originator who then sends it to another collection company,this is because the left arm hasnt got a clue what the right arm is doing and in any case dont worry about it,if seven years have passed you can tell them to take a run and jump
291847
All these fine responses, and not one person actually answered your question.  lol\n\nFirst my war cry...you are about to go to war.  Do NOT fight these guys unarmed.  Knowledge of the law is your only weapon!\n\nRead the link below.  This is the Fair Debt Collections Act.  All the answers you need are right here.\n\nThe federal agency in charge is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  As noted in the law, they have "Administrative" control over collection agencies.  But that's not what you want.\n\nRead the law below....\n\n================\n\n§ 805.  Communication in connection with debt collection   [15 USC 1692c]\n\n(a) COMMUNICATION WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY.  Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt -- \n\n(3) at the consumer's place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication.\n\n================\n\nTherefore, your first step is to contactthe collection agency, and give them a "cease and desist" order.  Be sure to put in the letter that they must not contact you at your place of employment.\n\nSend this letter by certified mail.  You don't need a return receipt because you have a tracking number on the certified mail slip they give you.  Go online and get the delivery confermation and save yourself the return receipt fee.\n\nNow, if they call you again, on to Step #2!\n\n====================================\n\n§ 813.  Civil liability  [15 USC 1692k]\n\n(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, any debt collector who fails to comply with any provision of this title with respect to any person is liable to such person in an amount equal to the sum of --\n\n    (1) any actual damage sustained by such person as a result of such failure;\n\n    (2) (A) in the case of any action by an individual, such additional damages as the court may allow, but not exceeding $1,000;\n    (3) in the case of any successful action to enforce the foregoing liability, the costs of the action, together with a reasonable attorney's fee as determined by the court. On a finding by the court that an action under this section was brought in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment, the court may award to the defendant attorney's fees reasonable in relation to the work expended and costs.\n\n\n====================\n\nTherefore, if they call your employer, and he would agree to appear in court, you have a slam-dunk court case.  Run down to small claims court and file a suit against them for $1000.  The cost is around $25 for this.  And you can add that cost to what they pay you. \n\nThe reason collection agents get away with this crap is because you don't know the law.  They are ARMED! They alreadly know the law.  Now you do too!
191112
Answer the call and wait for a customer representative-  Ask immediately for the mailing address.  Tell them you perfer not to be called at that number. Follow up by sending them a letter stating when you plan to pay and to inform them they are not allowed to contact you at home no longer all correspondence should be in writing. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP A COPY OF THE LETTER IF THEY CONTACT YOU AGAIN IT IS HARASSMENT
750204
OK, a couple of things you should do:\n\nFirst, next time they call, tell them explicitly NOT TO CALL YOU AGAIN.  By law if you tell them that, they cannot call you any more, they can only deal with you through the mail.  In writing there can be no he-said-she-said.\n\nSecond, forget the collection agency.  You are under no obligation whatsoever to pay them ANYTHING.  Call the company you have the original debt with, and set up repayment with them.  IGNORE the collection agency.  If they call, hang up on them.  I repeat:  you are under no obligation of any kind to pay them anything, your debt is with the company you owe, NOT the collection agency.  Deal only with the company you owe the debt to.\n\nFinally, find out where the collection agency is located, and report them to the local better business bureau and local Federal Trade Commission office.  In writing.\n\nThen pay your debt off *with the company you owe it to* and be done with it.
934615
wow - this is the slickest way I have seen a collection credit debt company looking for someone.\nyou guys suck
769671
CheckSmart is feeding you a line of bull$h!t.  As long as you are making a reasonable effort to pay off a just debt they CANNOT turn you over for collection (under the Fair Debt Collection Act)and they sure as heck CANNOT have a warrant issued for your arrest if they can't prove that you deliberately committed bank fraud.  \n\nHere's what you do:  Get the name, address, telephone number, and FAX number of the manager of the Columbus CheckSmart office.  Write him/her personally and explain the situation.  Be sure to FAX a copy to them ASAP and make sure you keep a copy of the letter.  Let them know that you're willing to pay the debt but you simply can't hand over that kind of money right now because you got scammed out of a huge chunk of money yourself.  Send the original via UPS or FedEx so you can ensure your letter makes it there before noon on Friday.  If you don't hear from the manager by Friday, call on Monday and ask to speak to him/her.  If this person is not willing to accommodate you, that's when you start playing hard-ball.\n\nIf the manager says he/she is going to get a warrant sworn out for your arrest, then tell him/her your lawyer will be in court the very next day filing a damages lawsuit against CheckSmart for wrongful prosecution, and that he/she will be named as one of the defendants in the suit.  \n\nIf the manager demands payment in full, tell him/her that you will pay what you can on a schedule but that's all you can do.  \n\nIf he/she tells you that's not acceptable, your reply is that you're not asking -- you're telling him what you can and will do and he/she will just have to live with it.  And if he/she has a problem with it, encourage him/her to read up on the Fair Debt Collection Act.\n\nYou should probably contact a lawyer as well.  Look in the Yellow Pages for attorneys that give free initial consultations.  You might get someone who will take your case pro bono (for free).\n\nGood luck!
732562
you are right on track.this one is a slam dunk.though you are doing every thing right you need to contact your attorney generals office because she is adopting unfair and illegal business practices.this PERSON IS HAVING SERIOUS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND IS TRYING TO TAKE IT OUT ON YOU,You sound like you have enough fight in you.go get her.If I were you I would start by sending her a certified letter indicating intent to file charges against her for double dipping,and to file a $5000 dollar small claim against her for attempt to defraud.if she goes ahead with her claim to send your "bill"to a collections agency she is only giving you additional ammunition for your claims.If this thing appears on your credit you can get it removed by showing that this is an attempt to at distortion.It will also give you the additional info.you need for a successful claim.