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.
Pass this around too...this same scam group calls using a 855 area code. I just now put it all together after getting a call from some Dallas number. I blocked several 855 numbers and this Dallas number. I am not behind in bills nor have I ever been...so not sure what they think I owe. I am going to do some more research and see what people can do about this group. My friend that is a police officer was standing there with me when this call came in. I answered using speaker phone because we were painting. My friend took over the call stating he was a deputy and this mr. Garcia said he would sue him too. It was just really weird, odd and smelled of a major scam.
My daughter along with every member of her immediate family they have a phone number for has received calls about this so called "Delinquent" student loan debt. She took out a small loan to go to school and made payments on it as long as she had a job. Last January she entered a tuition based full time internship at a church, contacted her loan company and put her loan in deferred status until she goes back to full time work next year. She received notification yesterday that her loan had been "transferred" to another loan company and to give it a few weeks to complete before contacting them about it. Today she gets a call from Zac Slater at this number to my home phone and her sister's phone (the one they are contacting changed her phone number recently - so they likely don't have it). He is very hostile and angry sounding on the message - so I tend to believe what all these people are writing about the debt collector's practices. Today she received an email from the original loan company stating her loan is in forbearance from January to December 2013 and she will owe around $20.00 in accrued interest during the 12 month forbearance period. Still she is getting calls from this same debt collector about this student loan. I have the written documentation my daughter sent me as I am helping her draft correspondence regarding the debt.
Now tell me, does this sound like an irresponsible deadbeat who isn't paying their debts? Neither does the post that states they had a medical emergency and could no longer continue to pay their student loans while on disability, or the number of people who said they are not aware they have any delinquent debt. After all, the FTC has been investigating erroneous bad debt reports on people's credit histories for three years and the latest news I have on it is that it is next to impossible to get that information taken off your credit or resolved because everyone assumes the person reporting the debt is right. That is unless you hire a lawyer and sue the debt reporting agency - debt collectors.
You who are casting stones at people having financial difficulty clearly have not watched the news lately where millions of people are now working two minimum wage, part time jobs across the country to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head. And those are the ones who have not given up on looking for work all together. Seems to me that only a debt collector is abusive enough to anonymously post a slanderous and defaming accusation without any facts... Your opinion is worth what we pay for it - very little. If I remember my legal terms correctly, slander would be one of those things that may be civilly prosecuted as well. You have your right to express your opinion - but not to attack other people personally and slander their character unless you have personal knowledge that what you are stating is true and accurate.
The TRUTH (as it has been previously stated) is that if a debt collector will not VERIFY a debt in writing or provide any information about the origin of the debt - the debtor does not have to pay until such information is provided in writing, if the collector refuses to provide the information and refuses to stop calling and harassing a debtor after they have made a written and verbal request for them to do so, and/or threatens them with criminal action, as well as any civil action they do not intend to pursue - they are in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and are subject to the full penalty of Federal Law as regulated by the FTC. Furthermore, a debt collector cannot require a debtor to provide electronic payment information to satisfy a debt and must provide appropriate U.S. Mail contact information if requested. Not everyone who is in debt collections is just ignoring their debts or not paying them on purpose. Some people have legitimate reasons not to pay and have been working with debtors only to be abused by debt collectors. Maybe if Debt Collectors were about working with the debtors to get the bills paid, and here's a concept - polite and courteous to the person, listening to their side of the story - perhaps they would get more resolved debts. Not everyone who is in debt collections is a stereotypical dead beat... But, you know - you probably never stopped to think about that, did you?
By The Way--- I have personal and professional experience in the legal field and courts with this type of abusive debt collection and will be helping my daughter ensure that she is neither abused, nor treated unfairly according to the law as she works to resolve her present situation with this particular debt.
And, just a note about spell check.... did it not catch that you mispelled the word "buy" in your post? The sentence reads: "I bet not a single one of you complaining on this page have taken personal action to clean your side of the street buy actually making any kind of payment for whatever it is that you obviously owe someone." (Should be "by")
I BET YOU ARE DEAD WRONG ABOUT THAT STATEMENT WHERE MY DAUGHTER IS CONCERNED AND I HAVE THE DOCUMENTATION TO PROVE IT. Why don't you grow up and stop your personal attack against people trying to figure out why they are getting abusive phone calls about debts they cannot get verified as is their legal right under the law. People like you have one thing that I find extremely sad - a bias based on your own opinion no matter how flawed it is. Stick with what you know to be true - it makes you sound more credible. Have a beautiful day!
1. The practice of collectors using an alias is perfectly lega. To do so the alias must be on file at the agency they work for
.2. Once a cease and desist letter is received by a third party agency they ARE allowed one more contact by phone to explain your options and possble consequences of not paying your debt.
3. Third party agencies ( not all are debt buyers) are allowed to call you up to 3 times per day. Once they leave a message or speak to the debtor they CAN'T call back.
4. They are allowed to call you between the hours of 8am and 9pm in your time zone.
The only violation I see ( if your telling the truth) is the hours of the phone calls. If you can prove thet called outside the appropriate hours you have a case. I however doubt you are tellimg the truth. My experience debtors are liars.
One more thing..If you pay your debts they will STOP calling you