Here is what you do; I work for a company which charges these companies to collect debt. The company I work for is a last resort for these people because not only do we get a percentage of what we collect, but we also charge them a flat fee to do what we do. When an account becomes past due the company tries their best to contact the customer, when that doesn't work they send it to their automated debt collection department which assumes your not going to pick up based on their collection efforts (this is why it hangs up). The next step is to try and contact you again personally. If that doesn't work they will hire a collection or "skip" company. Based on the size of the debt in which they are trying to collect the collection\skip company will hire us to get the money for them, which in turn is for their client. The overwelming majority of the accounts we get are for 2 reason: The bank or lender is smart and decides to cut out the middle man, or the middle man no longer has the means to collect debt. This happens when they have recieved a cease and desist letter. When this happens they can no longer contact you over the phone and neither can we since we were hired on their behalf. There is no need for a lawyer, you can do this on your own. However, if you owe money a cease and desist letter ONLY makes the phone calls go away....there are many legal means to collect debt which does not involve the telephone, or legal action. If you do not owe money and you do not know the person they are trying to contact, you should immediately do what ever it takes to figure out why they have your number. It could be becasuse you number is very similar to who they are trying to contact and whoever entered it into their system accidentally typed it in wrong, or the person they are trying to contact made up a number when they got the loan which happens to be yours, in extreme circumstances you may be a victim of idenity theft. Just know that there IS a reason your number is being called...it's your job to figure out why.
I keep getting calls from these guys loking for a Michael. My phone is new but they keep calling! And then they say this call is being recorded blah blah blah.
I think this is a scam. I just received a phone call from the same number. This guy says he is from Sallie Mae, however, I told him that it's funny that I called Sallie Mae today and I received a recording saying they are closed for the holiday. I told him GOODBYE, and I will contact Sallie Mae tomorrow.