Debt Collector

[Csthreatt]

Harassing phone calls

What is the name of your state? California

A credit card company called my cell phone (don't know how they received my ph#), I guess they were trying to reach someone that had not paid their bill in a while, When I told her she had the wrong ph#, she began harassing me with questions, I kept repeating myself, then I finally said, don't call my ph# anymore. She responded with an "oh yeah".
(i really felt attacked) I called the # back and asked for my ph# to be removed and spoke with the manager, who explained she had no problem with the way I was questioned. But is there anything I can do about this harassing phone call and how do you think she received my ph#?

 

[Debt Guy]

Obviously the collector did not believe you. I am not excusing what they said but explanations are sometimes helpful. Collectors get lied to constantly and get cynical pretty fast. Your response was a common one for someone who thinks the calls will stop if they just lie and say wrong number.

The collector has no way to tell if you are telling the truth or not. Mostly, they think not.

As to how they got your number, they have staffers whose job it is to try to find new phone numbers. Your number came out of a database of some sort.

So long as the collector did not use profanity or threaten to have you arrested, they did noting illegal.

You can either hang up when they call or you can write them a letter explaining you are not the person they are looking for.

You can also write a complaint letter to the FTC, the BBB in the city where they are located, the AG of your state, the AG of their state, the Complaint Resolution Officer at the company calling.

In theory you could file a police report for harassing phone calls. The danger there is a cop choking on a donut when they start laughing at you.

If the calls keep up you can complain to the phone company.

 

[TigerD]

What is the name of your state? California

A credit card company called my cell phone (don't know how they received my ph#), I guess they were trying to reach someone that had not paid their bill in a while, When I told her she had the wrong ph#, she began harassing me with questions, I kept repeating myself, then I finally said, don't call my ph# anymore. She responded with an "oh yeah".
(i really felt attacked) I called the # back and asked for my ph# to be removed and spoke with the manager, who explained she had no problem with the way I was questioned. But is there anything I can do about this harassing phone call and how do you think she received my ph#?

You may not like getting called. The easiest way to make the calls stop is to answer the questions. I can see this call: The collector asked a verification question that if you had simply answered the call was over. You kept repeating yourself, which, by the way, is a classic debtor response.

If you are lucky, you didn't get the number as a positive contact for the debtor. Because once that gets into the databases, you'll have to change your phone number to stop the calls.

When a collector calls, don't play games, don't get hostile. Just calmly state "You have the wrong number" and ask that they remove the number from their calling list. The nicer you are, the better a response you will get from the CA.

DC

 

[Csthreatt]

Thanks!!! The responses are very helpful.