Reader PJ sued a bunch of harassing debt collectors and won $5,000, and Google Voice made doing it really easy. Someone had put down his work cellphone number on their credit applications and ran up a bunch of debts and collectors started calling him multiple times per day. He told them he wasn’t the guy and asked them nicely to stop, but that only made it worse. [More]
debt collectors
Just Use "Block Caller" In Google Voice To Beat Fraudulent Debt Collectors
By 3.17.11
Using the “Block Caller” function in Google Voice is a far easier way to beat fraudulent callers than the one we described 2 weeks ago, says reader John. [More]
Trick Fraudulent Debt Collectors With Google Voice
By 3.7.11
Steve, name changed for his protection, found himself bedeviled by fraudulent debt collectors. They bought his personal information from an online payday loan site where he had applied for a loan but never actually took it out. They called him constantly, threatening to send him to jail and take him to court. In this situation, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act didn’t matter. They were overseas scammers who didn’t care about American law, bulling people into paying debts they never incurred. The only way to stop them was by changing all his phone numbers. That’s where using Google Voice came in. [More]
Disabled Janitor's $311,000 Victory Against Abusive Firm Trying To Collect $3,800 Debt
By 3.7.11
They just wouldn’t stop calling, and now they have to pay. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that a debt collection firm will have to pay a former janitor suffering from a head injury $311,000. Quite a turn of events, considering the debt they were hounding him on was only about $3,800. [More]
Video Of Bully Debt Collector Crumbling
By 2.25.11
Here are two videos, the first of debt collector threatening this man’s wife and kids over a debt he had already repaid, and the second of when he calls them back and takes them to task. The debt collector says he’s an “officer” with the “ULPD,” which is the “United Legal Processing Division” but the name sounds like it was chosen to make it sounds like law enforcement. Note how quickly they fold once he starts asking questions like “Who are you,” “who do you work for,” and “what proof do you have.” Then think about how if that’s all it takes to get them to back off and move on to the next soft target, how these bullying tactics must be working for them. [More]
Zombie Debt Collector Tries To Collect 11-Year-Old PayPal Balance
By 2.18.11
Christopher is currently being haunted my a small debt from his past. At least, it might be from his past: he’s not sure. A collection agency is after him trying to collect a $315 PayPal balance from the dot-com bubble era. He doesn’t remember owing PayPal any money, but who knows? That was a crazy time. He wonders what his next steps should be. [More]
Debt Collection Company Says I Owe Hollywood Video Money
By 2.2.11
Hollywood Video saw its end credits roll last year, but that apparently hasn’t stopped a debt collection company from tracking down old late fees on behalf of its impaled zombie corpse. [More]
Dirty Debt Collectors Sued Under RICO Act
By 1.11.11
A judge has set an interesting precedent, allowing a pack of skeevy debt collectors get sued under the RICO act, the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization law. [More]
What's My State's Statute Of Limitations On Debts?
By 1.3.11
One of the first thing you’ll want to check when you get a debt collection notice is the expiration date. No, it won’t be written on the top like a milk carton. But you can check to see when the debt is from. If it’s longer than your state’s statue of limitations on debt collections, they’re unlikely to successfully sue you. Those dates vary by state, so here’s a handy list that gets routinely updated. [More]
Dead Woman Used To Collect Thousands Of Debts
By 1.3.11
Martha Kunkle has been dead since 1995, but that hasn’t stopped her from trying to collect on thousands of debts. Despite being six feet under, her signature continued to be signed on thousands of affidavits filed by Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) in lawsuits against borrowers, lawsuits that are ripe for contesting because the documents they’re based on are fraudulent. [More]
How Do I Record An Illegal Debt Collector?
By 12.30.10
Shannon keeps getting calls from a debt collector that violate the law so she wants to catch them in the act. The collector calls herself “Investigator” and claims that Shannon is part of a “serious investigation” and has threatened her with jail time if she doesn’t pay up. The “Investigator” keeps calling her at work and has also called up her coworkers and told them that Shannon is part of an investigation. Shannon needs help figuring out how to record these calls. [More]
Update: Couple Waits 7 Months For FiOs Refund. Instead, They Get A Debt Collector.
By 11.29.10
There could be some relief on the way for the couple, who, after waiting 7 months for their $144.81 refund from Verizon FiOs, got a call from a debt collector instead. [More]
Couple Waits 7 Months For FiOs Refund. Instead, They Get A Debt Collector.
By 11.18.10
Tony and his wife have been waiting for 7 months for their $144.81 refund from Verizon FiOs that they’ve repeatedly been told is coming their way. It hasn’t showed up, but the debt collector trying to collect on that amount has. [More]
Debt Collectors Exploit Facebook To Embarrass You To Friends And Family
By 11.17.10
A woman has filed suit, the first of its kind, to get a debt collector to stop harassing her, her friends, and her family through Facebook and other social networking sites. [More]
Debt Collector Threatens To Shoot And Eat Your Dog
By 11.12.10
A woman says a funeral home’s debt collector threatened to dig her deceased daughter’s body up and hang it from a tree unless she paid what she owed for the funeral service. That’s when she started recording the calls, capturing such things as, “We’re going to have your dog arrested, we’re going to shoot him, and we’re going to eat him,” and, “Are you going to pay this bill or not or am I going to have to kill you?” [More]
Zombie Debt Collector Threatens To Send Sheriff To Man's Work
By 11.4.10
“I’ll go through any lengths I have to in order to embarrass you,” says one of the many debt collector chicks who keep calling this guy up at work, trying to get him to pay for a credit card debt from 1998 that he doesn’t remember and for which they refuse to provide verification. [More]
Debt Collectors Have Been Using Robo-Signers For Years
By 11.1.10
For all the attention being paid robo-signing foreclosure mills, you’d think people would be more interested in the guys who basically invented the business of mass-production affidavits: debt collectors. [More]
Debt Collection Firm Accused Of Setting Up Phony Courtroom
By 10.29.10
Call it “theater of the real.” A debt collection firm is accused of setting up a fake courtroom, complete with a raised “bench” and judge in black and other decorations and furniture, to trick and holding bogus hearings to extract payment from debtors. [More]
