“Why is it so important to get information from a debt collector when they call?”
There are a few good reasons why it’s so important to gather information about debt collectors who are calling you.
We need to know who we’re dealing with when a debt collector calls you.
We need to know the name of the company, and why they’re calling us.
This is true whether we owe the debt or don’t owe the debt — we need information so we know who we are dealing with on the other end of the phone.
We also need to make sure that the calls we receive are legitimate, and not a scam.
Sometimes people will call us and say that they’re a company that we owe money to.
However, they turn out to be people who are making threatening phone calls on a prepaid cell phone, and not a legitimate collection company. Lots of these scam type of companies that prey upon consumers.
“How do I know whether or not it’s a scam?”
There are some red flags that can help us figure this out. These are not 100% guarantees but they almost always work. (Note: just because a company is not a scam does not mean they are following the law. Lots of “legitimate” companies out there that are real businesses that are really harassing consumers. We sue them every month in federal court. So remember “legitimate” does not equal “always follows the law”.)
1.) If they can’t tell us the name of the company, then it’s a scam.
A real collection agency would tell us the name of their company. They want to get paid and they are a real company, so why would they hide their name?
2.) If they refuse to send us a physical letter, then it’s a scam.
Debt collection agencies will send us letters stating that we owe them money.
If someone calls us and will only send us emails or faxes, then they’re not part of a real company. This is a classic sign you are dealing with a scam company.
3.) If they refuse to give us their address, then it’s a scam.
Debt collection agencies will give us their address if we ask for it, because they are a real company and they want to get paid. We want it because we may want to send them a simple dispute letter and we want to make sure this is a real place.
If they say that they can’t give it out because of privacy reasons, then they’re scamming us.
Privacy laws are for consumers, not for companies.
Make sure you gather information about whoever keeps contacting you.
Make sure it get their address, phone number, fax number, etc.
Find out the who, what, when, where, and why of the calls:
- Who are you
- What are you calling me for
- When did I take out this supposed debt
- Where are you located
- Why are you calling me or why are you making these threats, etc.
If you are dealing with a scam company, you may not be able to sue (hard to sue a ghost) but there are ways to get them to leave you alone.
But if it is a legitimate company who is harassing you, then we sue them. Sometimes these settlements are are under $10,000 and sometimes they are six figures. It all depends on what the bad conduct is.
If you live in Alabama and are dealing with this type of disturbance, contact us.
We serve consumers all over the state of Alabama.
You can reach us by phone at 1-205-879-2447, or you can fill out a contact form and we will get back with you as soon as possible.
I look forward to talking with you.
Have a great day!