These are some sort of scam operation. They have an address from about 5 years ago & say I ordered 10-15 magazines & now they are collecting. Never happened! I usually don't answer & they leave no message.
i have no idea who this is. they call me several times a day and never leave a message. I don't answer strange numbers. everyone above says its a debt collector. it must be a scam because I have no debt, whatsoever. does anyone know of a way to get them to stop calling??
This number calls every month under M S Gerald 312-922-6500. They let it ring, and hang up when answering machine comes on! This has been ongoing for the past year-and-half.
This is a complete Scam. They were calling me about a debt that was 12 years old, and settled with another debt company about 7 years ago. The Statute of Limitations (SOL) here in NY is 7 years. If there has been no activity (ie. payment) in 7 years, they cannot sue you or even put it on your credit report. They just "hope" you'll pay something, which would re-activate your account, and then they COULD sue you or garnish you wages.
They are part of a growing shady set of collectors, that buy debts which are past the SOL for pennies, and then try to harrass you or bully you into paying them something, even though they have no legal claim to it. If they can just get you to pay a dollar, then they can restart the SOL clock, THEN have a legal claim to it. Basically, its a complete sham, and they prey on ignorant or naieve people that don't know any better.
If they call you, tell them the debt was already settled AND it's past the SOL. If they say they can still try to collect it...challenge them to sue you; they cant!!!! (or even affect your credit report or score) UNLESS you pay them.
Compaines like this set up a call center and harass people hoping 1 out of 1,000 will pay them something. At some point, they will get so many complaints that FTC or AG will force them to cease operations. Then they'll just open another shady operation under a different name and do it all over again. Of course, if you did pay them something, and another company tried to collect again years later, they would no longer exist for you to verify your settlement.
IMPORTANT!
A debt settlement is an agreed upon amount to put the debt to rest. For example, if you owe $2,000 a collections agency might offer to 'settle' the debt for $1,000 or $500 or even $50. This may be a good avenue; you can't afford to pay off the full debt, but the company might take a one-time lump sum and "write off" the rest. Once a settlement is agreed upon, the debt is no longer collectable; it is "Settled" and completely done. It will still show on your credit report as a "write-off" but it's better than having it unpaid, and you can't be sued or garnished for it. No one can collect this debt in the future; it has been settled and is no longer owed.
HOWEVER, the IRS now considers the unpaid balance as income. Thats right...if you settle your $2,000 debt for $1,000 they will consider the remaining balance as "income" and you will recieve a 1099 for $1,000 and you'll have to report it as income. Likewise, if you settled the $2,000 for $500, you'd have to pay income taxes on the remaining $1,500. If you settled it for $50, the IRS would make you claim the $1,950 as income on the following years taxes. This can really be a huge deal if you're settling a $20,000 debt for $2,000. It will be like you made $18,000 extra that year, but no taxes were taken to account for it! Add that amount to your regular income, and you might find yourself in deep debt to the IRS, who can do more than garnish your wages or ding your credit report!
I think that sucks, but it's good info to know for anyone considering a settlement. It might even be a good negotiating tip when trying to reach a settlement amount (ie "I have to declare the balance as income on my taxes next year, so you'll have to give me a better deal than that"). In essence, you'll be paying more than just the settlement amount to make the debt go away.