Quote:third party collection is illegal !
Um ...
Not quite true, in spite of your replying to a post made Aug 2013.
Bad debts CAN be sold, and the new collectors CAN try to collect.
Eventually, the Statute of Limitations takes effect, and the debtor can not be taken to court. You really need to read the words in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemak ... ctices-act-text
before making such global statements as the one you pasted here.
We had a message on our answering machine from someone named Sue, looking for a neighbour that lives in our complex. She asked us to pass a message on to this neighbour to contact her regarding an urgent business matter. We did some research and found out the number belongs to CCA. We contacted her to say that we thought this was completely unethical; she stated that they did not think it is; and we asked her to remove our address and number from her files. She said she would, only time will tell. We are in the process of trying to find out where we can make a formal complaint. It is bad enough being harassed by telemarketers all the time, we do not need to be harassed by collection agencies on the behalf of someone we do not even know!
It is unethical when the collector knows perfectly well how to contact an alleged debtor, yet chooses first to hassle all the "nearbys", thus to create false shame under the guise of "skip tracing".