Is this legal???

[mom-from-missouri]

I have a friend who is behind in her payments to a major department store on her credit card. She is making payments, but not enough to make them happy. (She was temp laid off work for 90 days and her priority was her house payment during that time)

Their collections department is calling her all day long, over and over, every day. Her answering maching picks up on the 6th ring. So, they hang up after the 4th ring wait about 5-10 minutes and call back. This goes on from 8 am to 9pm 7 days a week. She knows it is them, because of her caller ID. When she calls the number back, they answer it with the name of the company with the word collections behind it. She tried to report it to her local law enforcement as harrassing phone calls. They told her that because she owed them money, it was not harrassement and refused to even take a report--both her police department and the sheriff dept told her this. At no time has the collection department left her a message on her machine. They just call and hang up over and over and over. One day she got over 40 calls from them.

No one else can call and get through to her number. She is now to the point where she either unplugs her phone or takes it off the hook, but as a result of that has missed calls from her work offering overtime.

She refuses to change her phone number, as she has family serving over seas and also a wayward son who she has not heard from in several years, and she has had this number since the early 70's.

Any ideas???

[biff]

I think I have it...

She should just turn the ringer off on the phone, and when a job calls they will leave a message.
You said the collections people never leave them right?

[mom-from-missouri]

Trouble is, they are calling so often that her job gets a busy signal when they call her.

She also does not want to get a cell phone-she can't even afford a prepaid one right now at $10.

[Seeker]

Write a letter to them, telling them that you do not wish to be called about this debt.

Fair Debt Collection

If they continue tieing up that telephone line, then call the Federal Trade Commission and report them.

No this is not a "legal" practice. Unfortunately, not too many people know their rights.

[Brokemofo]

Tell your friend to send "written" notice that she will not pay the debt and she wants further collection calls to stop. This should take care of it. If they call again to collect after they get written notice, they are in violation of the fair debt collection act.

[safari]

Phone company offers a service that allows you to block certain numbers from calling you. Tell your friend to call her phone company and ask about that.

[Seeker]

Phone company offers a service that allows you to block certain numbers from calling you. Tell your friend to call her phone company and ask about that.

The "service" is called Selective Call Blocking -- but they will want to charge a fee for this.

[noppenbd]

Tell her to go to grandcentral.com and sign up for a Grand Central account. It is a free Google service. How it works is you sign up, and they create a telephone number with the area code of your choosing. Then you give this new number out when you go for job interviews. You then can link the number so it will forward to a home phone or cell phone or whatever. If you don't set it up to forward you can just go to the website to listen to your messages. You can also set certain numbers to be blocked entirely. It is a great service. The best thing is if your phone number changes in the future or you get a cell phone the grandcentral number will still work.

[LuxLiving]

She should keep copies of those letters that say explicitily that they are to stop phoning her.

If she hasn't already, she should write with her plans for repayment and then follow them up w/actual payments made on or before those dates. She should be paying with checks or money orders or get a receipt to prove her payments are being accepted.

No, it is NOT legal.

She should definitely report them as suggested above.

[mom-from-missouri]

Tell her to go to grandcentral.com and sign up for a Grand Central account. It is a free Google service. How it works is you sign up, and they create a telephone number with the area code of your choosing. Then you give this new number out when you go for job interviews. You then can link the number so it will forward to a home phone or cell phone or whatever. If you don't set it up to forward you can just go to the website to listen to your messages. You can also set certain numbers to be blocked entirely. It is a great service. The best thing is if your phone number changes in the future or you get a cell phone the grandcentral number will still work.

She doesn't have internet or a computer. This is a 63 year old woman. The only reason she has caller ID is she agreed to try it free for 60 days as a special promotion. She plans on dropping it after the 60 days. she just has basic telephone at 11.00 a month, no cable or dish, 14 year old car, leads a vary no frills life.

[jIM_Ohio]

1) change phone numbers
2) give cell phone number out to prospective employers
3) change to voice mail so it picks up on first ring (as opposed to an answering machine).
4) when switching to voicemail, also add call waiting, so all calls get through.

or answer the phone as a fake voice, then have that person tell collections department she moved. Give new address as Pennsylvania ave in Wash DC or something funny like that.

or turn off answering machine completely and see if collections lets phone ring and ring

or have her bring a 2 year old grandchild over, and when collections department calls, give the phone to the 2 year old.

[Seeker]

She doesn't have internet or a computer. This is a 63 year old woman. The only reason she has caller ID is she agreed to try it free for 60 days as a special promotion. She plans on dropping it after the 60 days. she just has basic telephone at 11.00 a month, no cable or dish, 14 year old car, leads a vary no frills life.

Again, all she needs to do is write to them and say that she does not wish to be telephoned by them again. She does not have to commit to a repayment plan... she can continue to pay as she has been.

If they continue to call her in this manner, she should report them. If they are abusing this woman, they are likely doing it to others. It needs to stop.

She has reasons, valid reasons, for not wanting to change the phone number. She has no reason to really block these calls. Her rights are clear, and they need to stop this activity. They are the ones breaking the law, not her.

If they persist in tieing up that telephone line, then have her call the FTC where the toll-free number is posted at the bottom of this link (have her use your phone if needed):
Fair Debt Collection

The only requirement is that she must have written them to demand that the calls stop. She should require signature on that letter and get a receipt of it; so that she has proof. If they continue to call, REPORT THEM.

[ThriftoRama]

Certainly sounds like a violation of the Fair Credit reporting Act to me. She needs to not only report them (I think to the FTC) but also say that she knows her rights under FACTA and they are clearly in violation...