Bill collectors calling? Time to notify the phone police
Posted
Feb 12 2008, 04:03 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Our partner blogger The Dough Roller got a phone call from someone claiming to be a bill collector. He said Dough owed on a Capital One credit card. However, Dough and Mrs. Dough have never had a Capital One credit card.
"The conversation quickly went downhill, and we asked him not to call us again," Dough writes. "His response was classic -- 'What are you going to do, call the phone police?'
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do," Dough writes, and he explains how.
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, all you have to do is send the bill collector a letter saying you don't want to be contacted again. (Note: This does not eliminate the debt if you actually owe money.) The collection agency can continue to call about "certain limited circumstances," but it can't call to ask you to pay a bill, Dough says. So, bill collector guy, "if after receiving my written notice, you call anyway, the statute has some nice penalties I can slap you with," Dough writes.
Dough also checked his credit reports and called Capital One to confirm that no such charge exists, so the bill collector was apparently in error. Or, we suspect, he may have been an identity thief impersonating a bill collector. He asked Dough to provide his Social Security number to confirm his identity, and Dough wisely refused to provide that information.
(Another note: The Dough Roller is donating half of the income from his blog to Common Hope, a charity that helps educate Guatemala's children. Way to go, Dough.)
