How to fight back against Credit Card companies

[Zac]

My response to phone harassment by debt collectors is to maintain a separate unlisted phone line that I do not put on any form or provide to any company.  I only give out that number to people that I want or need to talk to. 

I maintain a listed phone line (now a cell phone instead of a land line) that I put on all forms and provide when a phone number is requested.  Free ANI on the cellphone is also helpful in screening calls if you feel inclined to answer that phone.  In my voicemail greeting, I clearly announce my name so that they those agencies will hopefully not bother anyone else since they couldn't claim they didn't have my phone number.  Now that google voice is available and free, you could get a number from them and use that as your public phone number.  Their system will even automatically transcribe any voicemails and email them to you. 

The funny thing is I have occasionally gotten calls from a collection agency looking for someone else even though it came on a phone line I've had for nearly a decade.  This started a year and a half ago and occurs infrequently, perhaps once every few months.  I don't know what I can do about this so just ignore them. 

Also, keep in mind the banks, credit credit companies, and collection agencies generally have automatic ANI equipment and will keep a record of any phone number that you call them from and may later call you back on that number.  So, take care never to care them from a phone that you don't want them calling you back on.  I have to give Bank of America credit in somehow tracking down my cell phone number.  But, that worked our well as they were willing to settle for 20% so we reached an agreement. 

[Katie]

OK, I just had an inspiration.  I've gotten some of those incomprehensible notices from my CC. I thought, "What if I called them and made them go over that whole statement, line by line, and explain it to me."  "What if I asked to record the call so that I had a record of what they said?"  Of course, it's a time waster to me, but also to them.  And it does appear to make them accountable.  I may try it and report back.  What if everyone did this?

Those stupid notices make me so mad.  Even people who teach law don't understand them.

[ArmaGoof]

Your a girl after my own heart, Katie.    That's an excellent idea!  I love it when people who want money from me (whether a collector or solicitor) call me on the phone, especially when I have some time to kill.  My record is keeping one poor guy on the phone for 72 minutes as I asked as many questions as I could about the Time Share he was trying to sell me.  In the end, I refused 14 "closing" gambits by him and he finally hung up on me. 

[Katie]

Your a girl after my own heart, Katie.    That's an excellent idea!  I love it when people who want money from me (whether a collector or solicitor) call me on the phone, especially when I have some time to kill.  My record is keeping one poor guy on the phone for 72 minutes as I asked as many questions as I could about the Time Share he was trying to sell me.  In the end, I refused 14 "closing" gambits by him and he finally hung up on me. 

You are a master of this art, I can tell  .  To refuse 14 closing gambits and get him to hang up on you is truly genius.  Kind of a karate of handling credit card companies.   

[de jure]

When receiving an uninvited call, one of my friends used to ask the caller, earnestly, if s/he could just hold on for a moment while my friend answered the door, or some such ruse. He'd then just leave the phone on the counter and wander off, and hours later, come back and hang it up.

That always amused the heck out of me. Elizabeth

[Zac]

When receiving an uninvited call, one of my friends used to ask the caller, earnestly, if s/he could just hold on for a moment while my friend answered the door, or some such ruse. He'd then just leave the phone on the counter and wander off, and hours later, come back and hang it up.

That always amused the heck out of me. Elizabeth

What a great idea!  The only thing to make it more convincing  is a doorbell sound.   

[ArmaGoof]

I should add that my current experience with bill collectors is on behalf of my son who ran up quite a bit before he finally got a great job with DynCorp in Afghanistan.  He gave me Power of Attorney to deal with it all while he's away.  He's making good money now and I've paid off and/or caught up all his accounts, except one.  It's for a diamond ring he'd purchased a couple years ago for a fiance who ultimately dumped him, kept the ring and is now having someone else's baby.  It's for $2K  -  or $1K, depending on which solicitor or written offer you believe last.  I could pay it off 10 times over, but it's more fun dicking with the collection agency.

I stopped counting somewhere in the thirties - the number of distinctly different people who have called in the past 4 months trying to collect this debt.  It's nearly daily, but the answering machine usually scares them off.  I love it though, if I'm home when they call!  Today's conversation ended when I made the caller agree that there was no legal way on earth for him to compel me to pay and the only thing he could do was call back tomorrow, as they have done the past 100+ days.

That guy today made the mistake of identifying CitiBank as the original card issuer and to whom I supposedly owe this debt (like they didn't chargeback the merchant!).  That got me going good!    Finally, it was my wife's frantic, but silent semaphore across the room trying to get me to stop and leave the poor guy alone that convinced me (although she was stifling giggles as well) to back - as well as finish him - off.

Hey, some guys play football - I play with collectors.  {shrug}   

[golddust]

Armagoof, are your services for hire? 

[ArmaGoof]

Armagoof, are your services for hire? 

I'd never considered it before.  Damn, golddust, that might just be the ticket! One could start a Collection Call Fielding Center.  Sell multi-year service programs.  That could be a real bonanza in the short term!   

[golddust]

Armagoof, are your services for hire? 

I'd never considered it before.  Damn, golddust, that might just be the ticket! One could start a Collection Call Fielding Center.  Sell multi-year service programs.  That could be a real bonanza in the short term!   

Actually, they have something similar, called debt settlement companies. Most of them just take your money (which usually runs about 10% of your debt load) and don't contact creditors or field calls from them at all. Supposedly you save your money until you can offer to pay a creditor a lump sum. Soooo hard, right?  Often creditors will tell them to piss off and refuse to speak to them. Like most such things, they're worthless.


However, if you could find some way to simply offer your services fielding calls and nothing else...

[ArmaGoof]

Yes, golddust, just fielding the calls was what I was thinking of, but on further consideration, I would have to have a Power of Attorney from each client, as some creditors will not talk to you, if they realize you are not their client.  In my son's case, I have that; some creditors ask to have it faxed to them before they will speak to me, others just take my word.