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Just got one of these stupid calls, and figured that others may get them from time to time as well. The call will begin something like "I'm trying to reach so&so who is a neighbor of yours. Do you know of them?"
The call is from a debt collector or creditor, attempting to place pressure on a non-payer, who may or may not be an actual neighbor of yours. They might ask you to contact the neighbor to have them call them.
Acquisition of location information
Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall—
(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;
(2) not state that such consumer owes any debt;
(3) not communicate with any such person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct or complete location information;
(4) not communicate by post card;
(5) not use any language or symbol on any envelope or in the contents of any communication effected by the mails or telegram that indicates that the debt collector is in the debt collection business or that the communication relates to the collection of a debt; and
(6) after the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with regard to the subject debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney’s name and address, not communicate with any person other than that attorney, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to the communication from the debt collector.
While these scumbags can bother you ONCE, if you get repeated calls, use this script, preferably at the very beginning of the call:
"Please state your name and the name of the company that you work for so that I may log this call properly." Once you have that, the phone number, and have noted the date and time, continue:
"I am aware of the 'Fair Dept Collection Practices Act 15USC1692b, section 804.3" It clearly states that you are allowed only ONE call to this telephone number, specifically to verify the location of a debtor. I have stated what I know about their location, and am instructing you that you may not contact this telephone number again in reference to this person. If you do so again, I will report this matter to the Federal Trade Commission, the office of the State Attorney General, and the local police as an harassing telephone call. Any subsequent calls will then be referred to my attorney."
In my case, I am aware that the collection call was from a mobile home financing company owned by Warren Buffet. They have no legitimate claim that they do not know the location of the debtor. Perhaps Mr. Buffet needs to be informed?
I'll politely ask them to stop calling and if they ignore, then I'll tell them to get lost or F*** off.
It's bad enough if you're the one they're after but when they start harassing people who have nothing to do with the debt (me), then I'll go medieval on them.
Creepy. I think they are hoping to find someone that doesn't like their neighbor and wants to stick it to them. I would just say I don't know them and say I can't help.
A guy I work with had a person come to his door one day and asked if he was______. He told them, no, that guy lives over there, pointing to a home across the street. He was asked a few more questions and the guy left.
A week later, the SWAT team broke down the neighbor's door and drug him out of the house. The guy had been a friend and neighbor for 30 years, and always seems to be a great guy. Turns out he was involved in child porn. They took all of his computers and files, but let the guy stay home. I guess they wanted to dissect the computers for evidence before making an arrest.
The guy fooled them though, he killed himself that night. Guess he knew he was headed up the river...
All's well that ends well....
So it isn't always bill collectors who might be knocking on your door...
I believe the cop knew where the perp lived, they were just making sure they had the correct home before removing the door...!
They were calling my parents about my ex-husband who I had divorced 15 years ago. My mother told them every time they called you have the wrong #. Eventually they stopped. Then I started getting letters to my home that he had never been to or lived in. I wrote "not here never has been here return to sender and on the back wrote his address and if he's not there check the nearest bar." Funny thing was is he was at the address the collector had for him and it was in the public records on the internet that he owned the house. I never got another letter for him from.
I've not had this kind of phone call but I've had police question me about neighbors in person before. And I had bill collectors call last time I moved and got a new home phone #. Obviously my NEW number was someones OLD number but these guys kept insisting I must know something if I was answering THEIR old phone number as if I was living in THEIR old house or something! I had to explain it to them. Idiots.
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