Most of this debt collector companies never serve anyone. They rely on threats to get payment. You can't be charged with defrauding a company by not paying on a loan. Or by closing a bank account. They are just trying to scare you into paying them something. Don't fall for it.
Just because a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt does not mean you owe it
If a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt:
1. Demand the person give you his or her name, company name, and address
2. Demand a debt validation letter by US mail. E-mail no good.
3. Do not pay the collection agent or anyone else a DIME until the debt is validated.
Of course they won’t do this, no scammer ever will, so simply block their calls and ignore them.
If they continue to bother you, and you know you do not owe any money, tell them that you know this is a debt scam and that you are making a complaint to the police for extortion. You might have to yell at the scammer and talk over him or her. Once you get a copy of the police report and they call you again , just read out the file number and the name of the PD or Sheriff’s office involved. Tell them you’ll be glad to send a copy to them at whatever address the jack***es are working out of now.
I just got a call from this number (409) 263-0677 earlier today. I didn't answer, so they left a lengthy voicemail saying that they were going to file a judgement against my name & litigation process will start if I did not respond. It also said to consider it my official notification. Upon calling them back, I was on the phone with a guy who knew everything about me but my email address (he was fishing for my real email & gave me a bogus one to see if I would bite & give him my real email). He also named 2 people as my references, which I had never ever heard of before. He then tells me that I took out a payday loan for the amount of $400 on November 9, 2010 & according to him, the loan was being paid in a timely manner but then payments stopped abruptly. With late fees & charges my payoff would be $650 which I needed to pay to stop the litigation pricess. I wanted to speak to a mgr, but he switched me over to the "Chief Arbitrtor". I was talking to her for about 2 minutes when she asked about my USAA account (Financial Institution open for Military personel & their families). Right away she started stroking my ego about how prior military ppl are held up to a higher code of honor & that since I am prior military, I should pay this off ASAP. I didn't give her any bank info & told her that I will wait for the Bexar County Sheriffs Dept to "serve me" papers to appear in court. Got off the phone then I started to get curious, so a few minutes later I called back to get more information from them but kept getting hung up on over & over. When I finally reached someone, I asked to talk to the Chief Arbitrtor again but this time she had "conveniently" left for the day, I asked the person on the phone to verify my USAA account on his files plus the name of the company filing the judgement against me, since she was not available & he hung up. I will call back tomorrow & ask for the Chief Arbitrtor again & see how much more I could uncover.
A phone call, email or text message from a supposed debt collector is not legally sufficient evidence of debt.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) includes statements such as this:
* Every collector must send you a written “validation notice” telling you how much money you owe within five days after they first contact you. This notice also must include the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money, and how to proceed if you don’t think you owe the money. ["Written" means snailmailed - US Mail ... not emailed or texted]
Therefore, if that caller wants you to pay immediately, before you get the written validation notice via snailmail, or if the caller wants payment via Green Dot, MoneyGram, Western Union, prepaid gift card or other untraceable means, then the call is definitely not legitimate.
IF you wish to communicate with the supposed collector / creditor, visit the following page, for example "Action Letters" to snailmail:
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/blog/debtcollection/
If you KNOW you owe no money, or believe the call was from a fake debt collector, please take the time to read this:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0258-fake-debt-collectors
Similar story to all the above, only the calls with this number attributed to them were made to my kids. The calls I received threatening to "serve me papers" were from an "Unknown" number. I received these calls at work and when I asked them to stop calling my work, they still called back. The last call from "Unknown" was to provide me with the number for the legal group handling the "service". I called them and spoke with a "Michael Stone" who provided me with a bogus California Bar Association number. He verified a lot of my personal information including my home address, so I said he could send me something at home and he became belligerent. He claimed that the call served as my final notice on the matter. I asked who it was that I owed and he said it was a credit card company and gave me the time frame that the card was allegedly opened. I told him that I was unemployed at that time, and not likely to have gotten approved for anything, let alone be making payments regularly for over a year.
Afterward, I looked at my credit report and there was a card listed on it, however, when I disputed the charge, the reporting company removed the listing from my report as they could not verify it.
Same as above....they had so much info it was scary. I asked several times who it was I owed and they said a payday loan from 2010....The lady started spouting off that i was being charged with defrauding a company by not paying for a loan and closing a banking acct. I asked the name of the banking institution and she kept naming two banks i have never done business with. I told them to serve me. I would take my chances. These people are rude and pushy and can provide no information. The lady kept asking me have you been served?
.
Most of this debt collector companies never serve anyone. They rely on threats to get payment. You can't be charged with defrauding a company by not paying on a loan. Or by closing a bank account. They are just trying to scare you into paying them something. Don't fall for it.
Just because a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt does not mean you owe it
If a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt:
1. Demand the person give you his or her name, company name, and address
2. Demand a debt validation letter by US mail. E-mail no good.
3. Do not pay the collection agent or anyone else a DIME until the debt is validated.
Of course they won’t do this, no scammer ever will, so simply block their calls and ignore them.
If they continue to bother you, and you know you do not owe any money, tell them that you know this is a debt scam and that you are making a complaint to the police for extortion. You might have to yell at the scammer and talk over him or her. Once you get a copy of the police report and they call you again , just read out the file number and the name of the PD or Sheriff’s office involved. Tell them you’ll be glad to send a copy to them at whatever address the jack***es are working out of now.