When I moved in to my current resident some 10 years ago the cable company misspelled my name. How they managed to turn a 4 letter name into a 7 letter monstrosity with only an initial “R” and no vowels in common has always been a mystery.
But it always alerts me when an entity; spammer, scammer, mass marketer contacts me using that misspelling, that they bought my name from the cable company lists.
Today Lockhart Morris contacted me using this name saying I owed money. These people used the non-existent person’s name. I asked who I owed it to. They could not tell me, only that it was a “finance company.” The only thing I have ever financed is my car and that is long paid for and I hold the title. I traded in my old car, which was also paid for, as the down payment 16 years ago.
And my cable bill is automatically deducted and paid up.
They did not have my real name so I asked them what address they had. They didn’t have one. They could not tell me, only that it was from a finance company. I asked when the debt was incurred; they could not tell me, only that it was from a finance company.
Did some checking and this company is in Texas. Did some more checking and it turns out Texas is a haven for illegitimate and semi-legitimate debt collectors. Scam artists. Despite what the Lockhart Morris employee has been paid to post in this site, a legitimate company would have my correct name, my correct address, the name, and date of any legal debt; and this boiler-room phone bank lacks all of those.
To Unknown, What about a credit card bill that was paid over 10 years ago when my husband was laid off from his job. I took a loan out on my retirement to get us through until he found a job since my income wouldn't make ends meet. So took the loan out paid off all our credit cards, all my medical bills from my heart attack and stroke. I was unable to return to work full time. now I have letters from the credit card companies saying these accounts were settled however this company still calls us before 7am every morning which is a violation of Federal Law. I have mailed them the letter from the credit card company stating the account was settled over 10 years ago.According to the attorney general out state you can only go after a debt for 3 years if it was not paid. so legally even had we NOT paid this bill they still could not legally harass us. Yes you are correct. Problems today are people are not responsible. from our current President who spends like no tomorrow, his family takes lavish vacations on taxpayers dime often costing $400,000 or more for a weeks trip. Offering all these freebies. Giving jobs that he promised to put Americans to work to Chinese to pay them back for the trillions he borrowed. Banks and Financial industries, making poor loans, not paying back loans, businesses, major corporations not paying biils doing the same. I have worked for Fortune 500 companies and had paychecks bounce, had no paychecks for weeks and yet expected to still make my payments. This company is trying to us illegal tactics to get money from some who does NOT owe money to anyone. Who did in fact pay the bills over 10 years ago. they are crooks.
I got my first call from ppl today about my student loan which was paid In full 3 years ago I have never had a bad debt ever I worked 2 jobs and went to school full time while raising my kids alone and was never even late on an electric bill I take immense pride In the fact that I can say that because I know not everyone can I have never had a credit card and other then my car payment my mortgage and my education I have never "owed" anyone money if I want something I save my money and buy it I don't borrow or put it on a card and then I get a call like this at first she was very nice and then when I assured her she had the wrong person she got nasty and started calling me names and telling me she was gonna sue me and have me arrested and freeze my bank accounts and put a block on my ssn so I can't get loans (the IRS are the only ones who can do that) I just laughed at her and told her that may work for some people but my parents were good friends with the ohio attorney general and I can promise you that you can't do any of the above at that point I was hung up on but I'm not stupid enough to think Its over I will be hearing from them again I'm sure I've already written my letter of complaint to the FTC so we shall see
This call was from Lockhart, Morris and Montgomery, debt collectors.
[They've also called from 877-214-3355]
They've been calling (as have others) for someone who used to have
my phone number. I emailed them to take me off their list, and I got
this reply:
__________________________
We have removed the number from our system per your request.
Thanks,
Ronald J. Martin
Director of Operations
Lockhart, Morris & Montgomery, Inc.
833 E. Arapaho Rd., Suite 210
Richardson, TX 75081
877-214-3355 x100
Fax: (214) 522-6571
__________________________
We'll see if they really stop calling...
This phone number belongs to a collection agency. You are not required to talk to them. If there is a valid debt you owe, the proper way for the creditor to collect it is original creditor to sue you in a court which has jurisdiction. Even if it was at one time a valid debt you might have owed the statute of limitations has likely rendered it expired which in most states is two to four years. The burden of proof is on the creditor not the debtor.