Debt Collectors: HuffPost Readers' Weirdest Harassment Stories (AUDIO)

Debt collectors perform a useful function. They recover scads of bad debt for creditors -- an estimated $40 billion worth in 2007 -- that helps keep lending costs down for credit card companies and others. And, per the industry's reputable trade group, ACA International, "debt collectors often get flowers and thank you letters from grateful consumers."

Last week the Huffington Post asked readers for their weirdest debt collector stories. We received many tales of harassment, but none of flowers and thank yous. (We would like to! Send 'em to [e-mail].)

One woman wrote that debt collectors had been calling her over a debt that belonged to her husband's previous wife ("No need to tell you how mad it made me feel getting phone calls about my husband's ex's debts"). Another reader wrote that collectors were on his case for a credit card debt his dad allegedly owed when he passed away.

"They only stopped after I sent back a bill, unopened," the reader wrote. "I had left my father's name on it but had crossed out my address and wrote in the recipient's new address as: #1 Cloud Way, Heaven."

One of the best stories came from Billy Green, 47, of San Francisco, California. His debt collector troubles date all the way back to 1991, when he had some trouble leasing a trombone.

"I tried to rent a trombone and they ran a credit check on me," he said in a telephone interview with the Huffington Post. "They said, 'We wanted to ask you about this problem that you have when you were living in San Leandro.' I'd never lived in San Leandro."

William Green is something of a common name, it turns out.

Here's Green's letter to HuffPost:

I have had several instances of companies request credit reports for me and receive the report of a different "William Green" instead. I have been told variously that I have tax liens against me, that I'm a serial check bouncer, that I have defaulted on home loans and any number of other credit sins that I've never performed.

Story continues below

advertisement

Several years ago, my bank sent me a notice that they had cut the credit limit on my Visa card to $1,000 because of a credit report they received. Trying to find out what the credit report said was like pulling teeth. For a week or so, they refused to give me any details of my alleged sins that had caused them to reduce my credit limit. When they finally told me that it was because I had defaulted on a home loan when I lived in San Jose a couple of years earlier, I nearly lost it. I asked if it had ever occurred to them to check their own records -- having banked with them for many years, they should already know that I have never lived in San Jose, and that I've never even bought a house anywhere, much less defaulted on a home loan. My credit limit was restored in a matter of minutes.

Every few years, a collection agency contacts me regarding debts owed by "Wiley Green." After a few calls, they admit that they considered it a long shot based on similarity of names (thinking if I'm not him, maybe I'm related), and they give it up. But every couple of years the letters start arriving for "Wiley Green" again, and the cycle starts anew. At this point, it's more of an annoyance than anything else, kind of like mosquito season.

Poor Wiley Green, wherever he is. But collectors have an ingenious trick for foisting a phony identity on the real William Green:

The most current tactic seems to be for collectors to use an automated dialer and a recording. In the calls I have received on my answering machine in recent weeks, the recording begins by saying "We are trying to reach Wally Green regarding an unpaid debt. If you have not hung up by this point, we assume that you acknowledge that you are Wally Green." I've not heard any more of this recording because either my answering machine or their calling machine tends to hang up around this point.

Here's audio of the voicemail for Wally Green:

As for the trombone, Green said that the rental went through in the end.

Comments

[Yepperday]

Just last month we got a call from a collection agency trying to get debt paid for my husband's first wife, whom he divorced 20 years ago.

When we were trying to purchase the house we live in now we were almost turned down for the loan because the man who bought my husband's old house in another state defaulted on his home loan year's after my husband sold it to him. Somehow the next owner's default was placed on my husband's credit report. Wizard, eh?

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

We sometimes get calls from Heather at Credit Services.. A total scam.. They want almost 1000 dollars to just try and lower your interest rate on credit cards.. You need to owe over 5 grand , or so they say.. Since I owe less the 600 on all of my cards I never need this service. If you ask them to put you on the do not call list they laugh at you , say nasty things then hang up.. Here is what I now do, I take the call with the goal of trying to keep them on the phone as long as I can.. If I am bored or not in the mood I now have my 15 yr old take the call.. The deal is a dollar a minute he keeps them going.. Funny thing is if you waste their time then they do not call as much... Funny, if they just listened when I asked nicely then no one's time would have to be wasted... But if they want to play, then so be it.. Lets play...

[anewearth]

Heather gets around. We've received voicemails from her, too. Never picked up or responded & eventually "Heather" dropped us from her list.

[shades3]

I kept "Heather" on the phone talking to me for twenty minutes, before I told her that I didn't want their service...­..........­..........­..........­.....espec­ially at $675. I was passed on to her "supervisor" who tried to guilt me into signing up because I had taken up so much of "Heather"'s time.
Who are these people??

[phlashba]

Next time ask Heather or Heath what they are wearing. That should do it. OR a loud whistle into the phone.

[Gwen R]

I get the Credit Services calls, too, but she never calls herself "Heather". Caller ID says "Unavailable" or a made up 1-800 number (which is illegal). When you ask for more information to prevent further calls, they go into bizarre tirades. They call once a week on both my lines. I've decided to start filming the calls so my caller ID is visible and the strange things they say are recorded. The Do Not Call list people can't do anything about these people because they don't leave a trail, but with a good record of the harrassment, maybe we can convince AT&T to cough up the records so the company can be prosecuted.

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

they claim that since you hit #1 then YOU are calling them at that point , so they have not broken the do not call list rules.. or so they claim.. I just play around trying to waste as much as their time as possible.. means less time they have to call and bother others..

[elbzee]

As a former 25-year collections professional I LOVE when they call me! My recommendation is to thoroughly study & learn the FDCPA.

[Clevenative]

Last week I got a call that came up "Unknown" on caller-ID asking if I was me. I acknowledged and asked the caller who they were. I was told "We are calling in regards to an unpaid debt with Cleveland Electric from 1995". I just replied, "You gotta be kidding me" and hung up. First off, as far as I know there is no such company as "Cleveland Electric", surely for which I was ever a client - and second - 1995??? If there is an outstaning debt it stems from an unpaid electric bill final balance on a home that I was forced to abruptly sell (at well below a fair market price) in 1995 because of threats of foreclosure that resulted from loss of work due to a diasbling medical condition. I THOUGHT any debts from that time and incident had been settled long ago. I wonder if these collection agencies even have a clue or copy of the original bill or account number - or if it even WAS a collection agency. It sounds to me like someone got ahold of some list with my name on it - a due amount - and a description that said "electric bill" - and was trying to harass me into paying them?

[anewearth]

Your assessment is probably right on. What works best is to send them, by certified mail, a combo "Debt Verification" request with demand to stop calling. Invoke the FDCPA. Samples can be found on the internet.

Since they won't have the original note or any proof of the debt, they will usually stop calling. Since they will fail to respond to your letter, you can then write the Credit Bureaus to have the debt removed from your credit report if it's there.

This "produce the note" strategy works well.

Blessings.

[Havnagudtim]

THANK YOU!! This is what I needed to know. I had a car repo'ed in 2000 after loss of employment. This year I got a notice, I am being sued for this debt by a third party collector. I did just as you suggest, I told them I only respond to queries that accompany the ORIGINAL loan document with my ORIGINAL signature. Nothing back, so far!!

[Mary McKenney]

I get frequent recorded calls for someone who used to have my phone number. I never pick up, but I've considered calling them back to say they have the wrong number. However, I don't want to get swept up in their unholy quest. How hard would it be for them to CHECK THE PHONE NUMBER once their call goes unanswered a hundred times or more?

[Havnagudtim]

They get paid by the call, so they aren't interested in REMOVING any names!

[mtwashingtonmike]

I have been living at the same address for 14 years. I have an attached apartment that I have kept rented for most of that time. I have recieved calls on ex tenants for bills that they have incured after they have moved out many times, but the kicker is this. Across the street is a large house that is mostly student occupied. I know and have known none of them over the years more than to say hi. I have gotten collection calls on them!

I have wondered if this tactic has ever worked. I am going to look for someone across the street that I do not know for a collection agency? RIght!

[sisterdebmac]

I rent a house. They called my landlord once. They'll stop at nothing.

[jl4141]

About six years ago, I moved from one apartment in my building to another. At some point afterward, a person with the same first name as mine moved in; he moved out two years ago. For the last six months, I have been getting periodic calls -- dozens of them -- from a collection agency asking for this other person, who apparently owes money on a credit card account. Apparently, some genius put two and two together and got five. No matter how many times I explain that I am not the person they are looking for and informing them that they are in violation of the Fair Credit Collections Practices Act and demanding that the call stop, the calls just keep on coming. So far, it hasn't affected my credit -- I haven't given them my last name or apartment number, but that could be just a matter of time -- they could find this info out just by using a reverse directory on my phone number.

I hate this sh*****!

[PWM]

I once had a debt collector keep calling me because I had the same name as someone who owed them money. I had to write a registered letter to get them to stop.

[jl4141]

Easy enough for you. I have been rebuffed every time I ask for an address to write to. They won't provide one.

[nellieh]

The phone call "if you haven't hung up at tthis point" is a scam. I have received it and looked up a message board where the commenters claim it is a scam. I receive collector's calls several times a day looking for a relative who used my phone number. My take is; if they are stupid enough to sign people up for cell phones, credit cards, CD clubs when they have no job they deserve it. One asked my to locate the person and I , in so many words, told them to F off.

[Billy Green]

In this particular instance, though, I googled "Asset Acceptance­." There really is a company called "Asset Acceptance Capital Corp." that describes itself on its website as "a leading purchaser and collector of charged-off consumer debt."

Can I prove that these messages really came from that company? Absolutely not. But if the calls didn't come from them, then they really should try to find out who's out there taking their name in vain.

Just once in my life, I want to go into a store, have them run a credit check on me and get someone else's credit report that says, "Please ask the gentleman if he is comfortable. Offer him a seat, open a bottle of champagne and have some food delivered for him. If he says that he wants one of everything you have in stock, please just smile and ask what color he would like." But, no, it's always "tax lien" this and "defaulted loan" that, as if the name "William Green" equates to "deadbeat.­"

Maybe if I changed my first name to "Seth"....

[Bob Urban]

I keep getting harassed for a debt claimed by 5/3rd bank stemming from an issue they were responsible for. I keep telling the creditors that there has been no due process in court (I would LOVE to go to court over this). Even though I know and they know that I do not owe this money (even if it was unclear, take me to court!) the bank keeps passing the debt to different collectors. I have discovered that if you harass them back, they will get bored and go away (until it gets sent back to the bank and forwarded to another agency.) It's become a game and I am getting good at keeping them on the line with their hopes up.

How do these people have the power to affect your credit without due process?

[McMullen]

I once got a call from a debt collector looking for, not me, but my next-door neighbor. The debt collector wanted me to go next door and tell my neighbor that the collector was looking for her - apparantly she hadn't been returning his phone calls. When I asked the debt collector how much he was paying me to do his work for him, he got nasty with me. When I told him how illegal his actions were, he hung up.

[psf]

what law do you think he was violating? asking you to knock on your neighbor's door, or to do anything else that isn't illegal, is not in and of itself illegal. now, if he told you things about the neighbor and their debt, that be in violation, but the asking you to knock on the door certainly isn't.

[SurrealPumpkin]

It's harrassement by a collection company which is illegal.

[cindyw]

From the FTC:

"If an attorney is representing you about the debt, the debt collector must contact the attorney, rather than you. If you don’t have an attorney, a collector may contact other people – but only to find out your address, your home phone number, and where you work. Collectors usually are prohibited from contacting third parties more than once. Other than to obtain this location information about you, a debt collector generally is not permitted to discuss your debt with anyone other than you, your spouse, or your attorney."

The debt collector already knew the subject's location,. Obtaining that information is the only reason a collector is allowed to contact a third party. If I'm interpreting the FTC correctly, asking a neighbor to be a go-between is a violation. Even if it were not, it would be pretty awkward to tell a neighbor that debt collectors are looking for them. I wouldn't do it.

[BunnyFooFoo]

I get about 5+ automated debt collection calls for someone I've never heard of on my cell phone. They started over a year ago.

[Truelee]

When we bought and moved into our house 11 years ago, we got phone calls (including debt collection) for the people who was assigned our "new" phone number. Their names and ours are not remotely near similar ( we are a young couple while the other people are a mother and son couple, we later learned) but the callers would attempt to ask if we knew the forwarding number to the previous people. Some of them even attempted to leave a message with us in the event we get calls for the other people from their family.

We did get a few calls from families of the previous people and told them to have the people update their records so we'd stop getting calls. Finally, I yelled at one of the callers for harassing my family when they should've known their kin is no longer assigned to our number--this outrage occurred after 2 years of having had the phone number. That was the last time we got calls for them.