> I understand that sometimes an old number or something might be called in error but that has be a pretty rare thing and something easy to deal with on the receiving end.
> I think the best way to avoid robocalls from debt collectors is to not let your debt go into collections.
Your statement isn't true in many cases.
I've got two "debts" that debt collectors keep trying to collect. One for ~15 years and one for ~6 years. The reason for the quotes? Neither of these debts are mine.
I was a minor and someone at the hospital assigned something to the wrong patient. I hadn't gone into that hospital that entire year, the previous year, or the preceding year. Yet, they keep trying to collect from a 15 year old kid who only went to that hospital once when he was 11. I somehow doubt they forgot to bill my parents for 4 years. This is the date on the actual documentation, so its not like my parents ignored it for 4 years and I was unaware.
1) The hospital refused to admit fault and could provide 0 evidence I was actually there when it happened.
2) Years later it went to collections, and I was 17. They robocalled and threatened me with jail time and a bunch of other shit. I told them I could prove I wasn't even in the state of California [which was true, I was visiting family on the date I was supposedly at the Hospital ... on the other side of the country ]. Proof was provided.
3) They've since sold this debt several times, and this year, I still get some debt collector calling me. I call them up and point out I can still prove it was physically impossible that I was in the hospital on the date I supposedly incurred this debt.
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The "other debt" is a parking ticket on a car I can prove I haven't owned for years [ I have both insurance and DMV paperwork showing I sold the car years before this ticket happened ], in a city I've never been to, on a date I can prove I was [literally] a thousand miles away at a gas station within an hour of the date/time stamp on the ticket.
Guess what happened?
1) They sent mail to the wrong address [ literally 5+ years old ].
2) They falsely claimed I owned the car at the time and convinced the state tax board to hold my refund when I failed to respond to this "notification".
3) The man on the other end of the phone when I called was abusive, called me a liar, and insisted that I owned the car. He intentionally gave the wrong address verbally to mail documentation proof too. The information he gave didn't match their site at all. When he insisted he didn't get any of the mail I sent him after a couple of months and I must have "sent it to the wrong address", I moved on to the next step.
4) I had to get a lawyer and take the "debt collector" to court in order to get my money back + legal fees. The moment he was notified I filed, I got a phone call saying there was "No need. He found the clerical error and was correcting it." and cut a check for ~$4000 that I got about 48 hours later via overnight mail.
5) Despite the fact this asshole knew he was trying to collect from the wrong person at this point, guess what? He sold it some other schmuck who tried to pull the same shit a couple years later. The only difference was he couldn't get my tax refund hell and just resorted to calling me.
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Now, maybe, I just have exceptional bad luck and I'm just extremely hard to find. I doubt this somehow.
> But if that is the route they want to go the FCDPA clearly states that they can force the debt collector to cease communication for the most part and the avenues that remain open are via written mail.
Yeah, every time I do that, they sell it to another debt collector who then calls to "notify me about my debt". I get these same two calls every year.