ERC collections (Gonzales, Howe: mortgage, credit report, house)

[Oildog]

I keep getting autmated phone calls from some company called ERC. They claim to be a collection agency...outside of my mortgage I'm debt free. I don't think they are local.

Looked them up online and there were many examples of ERC scam that came up. Anyone else have them call, how do I get them to stop.

I have had collection companies talk to me before. They always had a person call and we discussed what the issue was.

[ethanw]

I run my own "Asterisk" PBX system in my house and I can control anything. I have a "blacklist" for annoying calls like this. I can even leave them a "nice" customized message when they call my number :-) Contact me privately if you're interested in a system like this.

http://www.bmw850.us/BLACK.jpg (broken link)

[cla]

Send a debt validation letter. You can find several samples on the internet. ERC actually has an A+ rating with the BBB, even with all of the complaints against them. The reason that I wouldn't ignore it is that it may indicate that you've been a victim of identity theft.

Just a heads up to anyone getting calls from debt collectors - they are now buying up old debts that have been charged off or that are past the statute of limitations for pennies on the dollar and are trying to collect, figuring that there will be some who will pay in order to keep their credit clean.

'Zombie' debt is hard to kill - MSN Money

[tstone]

Originally Posted by Oildog

I keep getting autmated phone calls from some company called ERC. They claim to be a collection agency...outside of my mortgage I'm debt free. I don't think they are local.

I get the same type of calls from companies under a different name. They also hit up relatives and in-laws looking for me, telling them about my fake overdue bills. When you tell them to stop they will ignore it, then all the sudden they will disappear for several months and then start up again. So I just ignore those.

I've also had fake collection bills appear in the mail, looking for $200-300 collection payment on a crappy retail cards I've never had before. They're sent bulk rate junk mail. Those I just throw out.

I do the free annual credit report and it's 100% clean, no debt besides a mortgage like you. Maybe that status is a trigger for the scammers to come slithering out of their holes. If you pay one of those fake bills it will appear on your credit reports as a collection, which effectively trashes your status. I have no doubt the banks are behind all this.

[Oildog]

Well I finally called without giving my name.

I said I get a lot of calls that dont reference a person I think you have the wrong number. They asked for the phone number called and a reference #. I providied both and they were looking for someone I never heard of. They SAID they would take my number off the system w/in 24 hours. Well see what happens.

On a separate event, I have a collector call looking for a family member, and I said they didnt live with me but I would pass a message...i Figure they will still call me. But I never cosigned anything with that family member, nor have I lived with them in 25 years.

[HoustonRonnie]

I get calls all the time (on my landline) for Larry Gonzales. This has been going on for over 5 years. I never use the landline, but from time to time I answer and tell them that Larry died in 2009 and if this was a joke, then it wasn't funny (can you hear the crickets chirping?). Apparently, they don't believe me.

Ronnie

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by cla

Send a debt validation letter. You can find several samples on the internet. ERC actually has an A+ rating with the BBB, even with all of the complaints against them. The reason that I wouldn't ignore it is that it may indicate that you've been a victim of identity theft.

Just a heads up to anyone getting calls from debt collectors - they are now buying up old debts that have been charged off or that are past the statute of limitations for pennies on the dollar and are trying to collect, figuring that there will be some who will pay in order to keep their credit clean.

'Zombie' debt is hard to kill - MSN Money

Just FYI, anyone who pays BBB their annual fee gets an A+ rating. They are pretty much just a scam at this point.

[Liljo22]

Originally Posted by Oildog

Well I finally called without giving my name.

I said I get a lot of calls that dont reference a person I think you have the wrong number. They asked for the phone number called and a reference #. I providied both and they were looking for someone I never heard of. They SAID they would take my number off the system w/in 24 hours. Well see what happens.

On a separate event, I have a collector call looking for a family member, and I said they didnt live with me but I would pass a message...i Figure they will still call me. But I never cosigned anything with that family member, nor have I lived with them in 25 years.

Calling family members is just a way to pressure the person into paying. They hope that you will let your family member know about the call and embarrass them into paying.

[Beto]

I would send a DVL as the previous poster suggested and contact the company to verify the name of the person who owes the debt.

[aubrisol]

I just received a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. No message was left so I was curious and called the number from a private line to ask why they were calling. I was asked for the number they were calling and they asked if I was the person they were looking which indeed I was. However, my problem is this, they said that I have a past due account with AT&T from January of 2008 in which that month and year I had moved and transerred my service. I still have service with AT&T, but the guy could not tell me what type of account it was and now I have confirmed that it isn't my cell phone(which I knew it wasn't) or my old landline (which I knew as well). Now I am waiting for AT&T to get in touch with my over my internet to see if that is possibly the source of said bill, but I find it extremely odd that they would allow me to start new service with the same name, phone number and social security number if I still had an outstanding bill. Has anyone else had this type of problem?