For the most part, you are probably the person they want to reach. If you failed to pay a debt and its been a long time, in many cases over 7 years, It should be wiped from your credit report as is the law so in reality its gone. What they do is they will purchase the debt (which is not really the case of paying the bank or whoever the whole amount owed but 2 cents on the dollar hoping to collect whatever they can. So they purchase the paperwork of the debt hoping to convince you they represent the original bank or whoever you did not pay,which they state or put on a letter sent to you, even though the time frame for collecting the debt has passed (7 years) hoping to get you to sign or agree to anything so they can re-start the whole process over again and then they can put their claim on your credit report for another 7 years. They are not trying to get you pay anything to give to the original company you did not pay. The whole amount goes into their pocket. You have to remember, if the bank or whoever you did not pay kept good records you probably gave them several numbers (parents, family members etc) to reach if needed. So they now have these numbers and will call everyone to get you to give in and agree to work out some arrangement when you do not have to do anything with them. The original company you did not pay wrote you off a long time ago and somehow probably got that money from the gov. in insurance coverage and also filing their taxes as a loss. They get it back somehow. And considering if the Fed or Gov had to pay the tab, who cares. We seem to be supporting everyone else in the world free of charge so why not you! You paid some taxes at one point in your life so its only fair. Just remember this company now calling you has no real claim over this other then they bought it from some other debt collector that tried in the past and gave up so now they are taking a chance. Put your two year old on the phone with them when they call or just spend the extra bucks and get a new number and keep it unlisted. Just remember when they call you have no idea what they are talking about and only send a letter stating I have no idea why you are calling me so stop. Even if you remember the debt or you actually paid someone else a portion of it thinking it was now gone, if you put something in writing referring to it, it opens the door to them claiming you admit to it. Never never send a letter unless you claim you have no idea what the heck this is about and stop calling. And that's it. Sometimes I read on sites people tell you to send a letter making a claim about the debt and stating its paid or whatever and those people are actually working for the debt collectors. You can only hope there actually is a hell because if so, the guys at ASTA funding will be rotting in it.