Received calls from them-at my place of employment-asking me to verify my identity stating they are trying to collect a debt but refused to give me details until I verified my identity, which I was reluctant to do. The agent stated it was illegal to share info until they verified I was the actual person they were looking for, asked to provide my birthday or last 4, I gave the month & year and asked if that matched, was abruptly told "no" and was hung up on. A week later, they call back and leave a message! Didn't we already establish I wasn't the person in question???
How do they do business, call anyone with the same name? Why do they call at work? I'm not hiding, obviously if it were legitimate they would know how to reach me.
Received calls from them-at my place of employment-asking me to verify my identity stating they are trying to collect a debt but refused to give me details until I verified my identity, which I was reluctant to do. The agent stated it was illegal to share info until they verified I was the actual person they were looking for, asked to provide my birthday or last 4, I gave the month & year and asked if that matched, was abruptly told "no" and was hung up on. A week later, they call back and leave a message! Didn't we already establish I wasn't the person in question???
How do they do business, call anyone with the same name? Why do they call at work? I'm not hiding, obviously if it were legitimate they would know how to reach me.
This practice of making call recipients authenticate is not spelled out in the FDCPA, but it's become common since a famous decision seven years ago in Foti v. NCO, which essentially penalized NCO for trying to have mandated privacy and disclosure both ways.
} Didn't we already establish I wasn't the person in question?
You did. However, a heavily abused (and little discussed) FDCPA provision leaves it to debt collectors to decide when you've lied or made an incomplete admission, making future skip trace calls legal, though stupidly wrong. This is why I keep harping on the use of Certified Mail in "not me" cases, as in my linked essay.
Yet scofflaw agencies usually take the position that you're being evasive, which justifies aggression and intrusion. Calls to the workplace are not necessary when a valid home number is known, but agency bullies call a PoE first to create false drama, gossip, and urgency to pay.