Article on scary debt collections

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Article on scary debt collections
5
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 12:39pm
This article is very scary and will probably provoke some anger. It discusses cases where collection agency went after people who DID NOT OWE the debt being collected and had to be sued by the Attorney General to get the harrassment to stop. Apparently, it becoming more common.

Sandra


http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Managedebt/P95315.asp

Avatar for mahopac
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-1997
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 1:20pm
Goodness! I've never been harassed about debts I do owe, let alone ones I haven't, but thanks for the info about what to do if you are harassed for non-existent debts. What a nightmare for those people!

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 1:23pm
Wow that is scary. What is wrong with these people anyway?
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 5:25pm
A similar situation happened to my DF, except it was the government trying to collect child support from him. While my DF had the same name as the debtor, their social security numbers were not even close. He explained that he doesn't have any kids and had never resided in the state where the child support originated from. The State of California caused his IRS refund to be seized as well. He had to hire an attorney to get his refund back and the letters to stop which cost a lot more than the refund. The next year we received a notice that it was going to be seized again. (He no longer gets any refunds whatsoever) The State of CA eventually appoloized after our attorney threaten to sue the state agent personally even though they generally have immunity. Their excuse was that they used "last year's records."
Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 11:24pm
Sandra,

Thanks for sharing this article. It's scary to know that this can happen to anyone.

MYM

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-18-2004
Tue, 10-26-2004 - 3:58pm
Believe it or not, I have had this happen to me. My DH has an extremely common name and we receive calls from debt collectors all the time. They seem to think, they got a hold of one person with this name, he must be the only one. One problem, it ain't us. There are literally tens of thousands of people with my DH's name in the US alone. He is an officer in the military. He can't afford (career wise) not to pay his bills. These debt collectors are wrong if they think I am going to pay someone else's debt or put up with harrassment. I don't have to. I fortunately can go to the military legal office and get help with something like this. What is a regular person supposed to do? Word needs to get out that we don't have to put up with these people.

JMHO.

Kellie