Carrie,
Portfolio is well known for calling people like this and they do not care if you owe or not. This is why this company's is constantly being sued for violations of the FDCPA and TCPA laws. You can invest in a call blocking device, they run around 60,00 and you can block them, but your better off keeping a notebook of the calls along with any and all messages, also recording them if you speak with them. Check your states recording laws first, some states require you notify them they are being recorded.
State recording phone:
http://www.pimall.com/nais/n.tel.tape.law.html
Follow the steps in what you need to know and send them a cease & desist letter via the US mail, return receipt or certified.
http://800notes.com/arts/Jb8EW-eDhQA/harassin ... ou-need-to-know
See Residents post here also:
http://800notes.com/forum/ta-34af6a034ba34b6/unending-collection-calls
Templates of Letters:
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-319-242-7350
To File complaints FDCPA/TCPA violations:
Your State Attorney General
Their State Attorney general
www.naag.org (you can find your state AG at this link).
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#&panel1-1
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
The BBB
If the calls continue, file those complaints and seek a FDCPA/TCPA attorney..
If these people would just live off the money they spend to pay their workers to harass people, and also the money spent on different phone numbers to hide who they are, they could probably live a nice relaxing life. Then we could too. Use some of that money you are wasting to hire someone who has a decent business plan.
They call constantly all the time on a daily basis. Very annoying. They say for a CapitalOne credit card for $150 since the year 2000...Thirteen years later you tell me I still owe this amount.....WOW!!!!!
They have been calling me for several years. Portfolio Recovery. I love it, I am way beyond the statue of limitations. I could send them a letter and then they would have to stop but I like the idea that they have to pay people to keep calling.
My suggested way to deal with them when they call, this is what I do and some of them get really aggravated.
I ask who the debt is with, when they say it is sears or verizon (who I tried to settle with originally) I ask why I would pay a company other than sears or verizon, they say they are in charge of the debt. I let them know I never shopped with portfolio so why would I ever pay them. They will keep insisting that they are now the owner of the debt and I tell them they should then contact verizon or sears to collect the debt. They will continue to call but some of them really loose there cool.
Sometimes I will say to them that I am a little distracted because I am in the middle of watching a porn move so they have to excuse me if I ask them to repeat themselves. This gets them mad. I actually had a supervisor get on the phone telling me how rude I was, a few words into his talking to me I told him I had to go because I was about to you know what (he started screaming at me and I hung up). LOL
I moved and got a new phone number, they were on it within 24 hours and started calling. Thing is I didn't want the phone number, it was required with my cable plan. I hooked it up to my fax machine and set it to auto pickup.
If you answer the phone, play with them let them get nasty, if you keep your cool they get more and more aggravated.