What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Rhode Island
Note: This is not a post about trying to dodge a debt. If I owe a debt, I intend to pay it. This is about an alleged debt collector using abusive and illegal tactics. I may or may not owe them a debt, I don't know, and they have made it damn near impossible to find out.
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My sister called me the other evening very angry. Apparently her, her husband and her husband's parents have been getting abusive debt collector phone calls from collectors supposedly looking for me. They have apparently been getting these for over a year now (I have no idea why she didn't bother to tell me, other than apparently this is the first time she was able to actually get a number). My mother and father, after hearing about my phone call with my sister have also apparently been getting calls from this same collector. The only one apparently not getting calls is me, my phone number is publicly available and my address too, I work for a large national retailer, not an obscure company and I would be willing to bet even a basic background check on me would bring that up to. This is why I am skeptical. I did go through a financially difficult situation 4 years ago in which some bills did not get paid, but to my knowledge I have paid or am paying on all of them. I could be wrong, but I monitor my credit and can see every debt reported on my past and present.
This company is calling them multiple times a day, despite some of them providing the company with my proper contact information, they continuously call my family and not me. They have divulged information about my debt to them all, even on voice mails of their phones so I can legitimately prove this. They refuse to give a company name, but divulge all the other information on the debt. They have even threatened family members and my family has even called their local police to file a complaint and the police even called AND spoke to person on the other end demanding they cease their harassing phone calls. My sister is talking to an attorney on her end, but I can't really afford one and know my rights when it comes to debt collection and have been pursuing this independently.
I have called and spoke with them and they have even confirmed (I have this recorded) with me that they have always had my correct address and phone number on file. They have stated that they know I am a druggie who avoids his financial responsibilities (I am not, I have to be routinely drug tested for my job) and that they are going to "take me to the mat" and that I am in "pre-litigation" (I know there is no such thing). They have told me they have papers to serve me, they already filed against me in my county, yada, yada, all those typical illegal threat tactics.
I have called them and asked for their company name and they refuse, they refuse to give me an address to send correspondence to so I may put in writing a request to validate the debt. They refuse to provide me with any license number to use to identify themselves as legally being able to collect a debt in my state. I had someone else call up and ask for their basic mailing address and what company they are with and they tell him no. I had someone claim to be a lawyer and make these requests and they tell him no and on the last call when he says he isn't asking for any account information, just a correspondence address the woman goes "no, that's your answer" and hangs up.
I have filed a complaint against them with the CFPB who said they cannot do anything without a company name and the phone number they call from is just some temporary VOIP number. I called the number again and now the recording says "Premier Legal Group." I Googled this in many different ways and only found one that closely resembles in Nevada. I called that law office and they swear they are unaffiliated. I believe the actual debt collector's name is Premier Recovery Group as a Google search for that with debt collection brings up a company in Buffalo, NY with many complaints against them for the same type of behavior.
I don't know how to proceed at this point. I really just want the calls harassing my family and my sister's husband's family to stop. Problem is, I cannot enforce any of my legal rights, because they refuse to give me any information even when I say I would like to mail a money order to pay the balance, they won't give me the address for that either, it has to be credit/debit or they will keep harassing. I am confident this is a scam or a shady debt collector trying to collect on an old debt I already settled, but I want to tighten their screws. Who do you reach out to find out who this company really is?
Note: This is not a post about trying to dodge a debt. If I owe a debt, I intend to pay it. This is about an alleged debt collector using abusive and illegal tactics. I may or may not owe them a debt, I don't know, and they have made it damn near impossible to find out.
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My sister called me the other evening very angry. Apparently her, her husband and her husband's parents have been getting abusive debt collector phone calls from collectors supposedly looking for me. They have apparently been getting these for over a year now (I have no idea why she didn't bother to tell me, other than apparently this is the first time she was able to actually get a number). My mother and father, after hearing about my phone call with my sister have also apparently been getting calls from this same collector. The only one apparently not getting calls is me, my phone number is publicly available and my address too, I work for a large national retailer, not an obscure company and I would be willing to bet even a basic background check on me would bring that up to. This is why I am skeptical. I did go through a financially difficult situation 4 years ago in which some bills did not get paid, but to my knowledge I have paid or am paying on all of them. I could be wrong, but I monitor my credit and can see every debt reported on my past and present.
This company is calling them multiple times a day, despite some of them providing the company with my proper contact information, they continuously call my family and not me. They have divulged information about my debt to them all, even on voice mails of their phones so I can legitimately prove this. They refuse to give a company name, but divulge all the other information on the debt. They have even threatened family members and my family has even called their local police to file a complaint and the police even called AND spoke to person on the other end demanding they cease their harassing phone calls. My sister is talking to an attorney on her end, but I can't really afford one and know my rights when it comes to debt collection and have been pursuing this independently.
I have called and spoke with them and they have even confirmed (I have this recorded) with me that they have always had my correct address and phone number on file. They have stated that they know I am a druggie who avoids his financial responsibilities (I am not, I have to be routinely drug tested for my job) and that they are going to "take me to the mat" and that I am in "pre-litigation" (I know there is no such thing). They have told me they have papers to serve me, they already filed against me in my county, yada, yada, all those typical illegal threat tactics.
I have called them and asked for their company name and they refuse, they refuse to give me an address to send correspondence to so I may put in writing a request to validate the debt. They refuse to provide me with any license number to use to identify themselves as legally being able to collect a debt in my state. I had someone else call up and ask for their basic mailing address and what company they are with and they tell him no. I had someone claim to be a lawyer and make these requests and they tell him no and on the last call when he says he isn't asking for any account information, just a correspondence address the woman goes "no, that's your answer" and hangs up.
I have filed a complaint against them with the CFPB who said they cannot do anything without a company name and the phone number they call from is just some temporary VOIP number. I called the number again and now the recording says "Premier Legal Group." I Googled this in many different ways and only found one that closely resembles in Nevada. I called that law office and they swear they are unaffiliated. I believe the actual debt collector's name is Premier Recovery Group as a Google search for that with debt collection brings up a company in Buffalo, NY with many complaints against them for the same type of behavior.
I don't know how to proceed at this point. I really just want the calls harassing my family and my sister's husband's family to stop. Problem is, I cannot enforce any of my legal rights, because they refuse to give me any information even when I say I would like to mail a money order to pay the balance, they won't give me the address for that either, it has to be credit/debit or they will keep harassing. I am confident this is a scam or a shady debt collector trying to collect on an old debt I already settled, but I want to tighten their screws. Who do you reach out to find out who this company really is?
