'Am I Going to Have to Kill You?': The Horrific Ways Abusive Debt Collectors Threaten Their Victims

[upstatecajun]

Bart Bryant remembers all too well the day a very nasty and confrontational debt collector called to speak to his wife. By the time Bryant decided to take legal action, the Connecticut-based blues-rock musician had been subjected to everything from racial and anti-Semitic slurs and sexually degrading comments about his wife to taunts urging him to commit suicide.

It started when an employee of a debt collection agency based in New York State pretended to be an attorney and asked to speak to Bryant’s wife about a small gas card debt his son owed. Bryant offered to take a message, but the collector had no interest in having a polite conversation. Bryant recalled: “The guy says to me, ‘Why don’t you mind your own fucking business and put your wife on the phone?’ I said, ‘I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, buddy.’ It turns into a shouting match between me and him. He hangs up. I get the caller ID. I call the number back.”

Things only went downhill from there. Said Bryant: “They said things like, ‘We know your father has been molesting you. Why don’t you have him take his cock out of your ass and stick it in your mouth? You know you like it. Why don’t you have your wife come over here and give us blow jobs? You’re a loser. Why don’t you jump in front of a train and kill yourself?’ I recorded all of it and sent it to my attorney, Joseph Mauro.”

http://www.alternet.org/economy/150638/%27am_i_going_to_have_to_kill_you%27%3A_the_horrific_ways_abusive_debt_collectors_threaten_and_harass_their_victims/

[hobbit709]

1. If one of those assholes said anything like that to me

I would calmly ask for the names, addresses and phone numbers of his next of kin so that they could be properly notified if he dared to show up at my house.

[inademv]

2. Could he pay the bills with the reward from his lawsuit?

[hobbit709]

4. Evidently it was his son's debt.

Unless they had it in writing that they were responsible for the money, I'd tell them to fuck off.
Especially since these agencies buy these debts up for pennies ion the dollar and try to intimidate you into paying the full amount.

[inademv]

21. But since it wasn't actually "his" debt

couldn't he technically sue the guy for harassment and damages?

[hobbit709]

24. Even if the debt was his he can still go after them.

They violated the FCDCPA.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. good god

:wow:

and I am a single woman living alone...if I got a phone call like that...god forbid!

[Curmudgeoness]

19. I am in the same boat as you are, and all I can say is,

don't ever let it get that far. Just tell him to sue you and hang up. Repeat as necessary. Do not let them intimidate you, that is the only power they have, and only if you let them. Don't let them.

[badtoworse]

5. This is appalling, hard to believe. - nt

[hobbit709]

7. Not hard to believe at all.

I've put up with that and worse about 10 years ago.

[badtoworse]

10. Just out of curiosity, when these jerks call, do they hide their identity?

[hobbit709]

12. Usually. They will even spoof the number they're calling from.

99% of what the clowns do is in violation of the Federal Fair Credit Debt Collection Practices Act. They bank on the fact that most people don't know the law.

I had one threaten to garnish my wages. He got all upset when I started laughing. I told him I lived in Tx and the only thing your wages can be garnished for here is unpaid taxes, unpaid student loans and unpaid child support.

[arcane1]

14. Yep, that's what they did to me.

They called and left a number, but calling the number back got a recording and nothing else. You have to wait for them to call YOU back!

[hobbit709]

18. I don't even talk to them. As soon as they say who they are, I hang up.

The statute of limitations on my old debts expired about 10 years ago. No reason to give these clowns a penny.
A friend got a call from one of these clowns about an alleged debt from 1976.

My credit rating now is above 720 last time I checked so I don't care what these bastards try to do.

[pipi_k]

22. I had one call me about six years ago, and it was for a debt that was

nearly 20 years old!!!

They must have bought it from the archives of the cc company for like five bucks and yet they were trying to suck over $2500 from me.

Fuckers.

I got a couple of Attorneys General after them (they and their cohorts were in different states). A few letters back and forth and that was the end of them. They tried to make themselves look like victims...oh, they weren't calling four times a day, blah blah blah.

Yeah. Right.

So they stopped. But you know, the shitty thing about this is that the AGs said that there was no guarantee these assholes wouldn't end up selling the portfolio to some other zombie debt collector and the whole thing could start over again.

If it ever happens again, at least I'll know what to do. I was so scared last time I nearly agreed to pay them.

A note for anybody hounded by debt collectors: Always...always!! make them PROVE it's your debt and that it's valid and within the statute of limitations. There are some debts people can't get out of paying even if they are out of SOL, but most of what Zombie collectors try to get is bullshit.

[arcane1]

6. Wow, and I thought I knew how assholish they could be!!

Luckily I never dealt with anything like THAT!!!!

I had a debt of $56from an expired account that was several years old (and totally forgotten). A couple of years ago a company called me, said I owed over a thousand dollars for this account. BUT, if I paid it off right now I could get a 55% discount and only pay a few hundred. If I didn't pay, they would garnish me for the full amount.

Well, I researched, contacted the company I had the old account with, and went all over the internet. The company had no record of me owing them anything, and said "ask the collector for your original account number". So when they called back, I told them this, and asked them to send me a letter detailing this information.

I never heard another word from them.

[AzNick]

8. Funny yhing happened to me and Ugly Duckling

Ugly Duckling (now Drive Time) did some of this to me.

I had a moron who would call me if I was one day late, just to piss me off. The same guy. I suppose he had requested to be attached to my case, because he loved pissing me off (or trying to).

My sister-in-law eventually worked there, in their collection department, and described what type of a man he was: sad little man, divorced, little parenting time due to abusive behavior, living as a roommate, driving a tiny POS car and of course no girlfriend due to being very overweight and ugly.

I found out that he had reported me as being 90+ days late in payments, which was not true, at the most I was 10 days late, which was pretty acceptable.

They cannot report you for being late unless you are 30+ days late, by the way.

He just wanted to screw up my credit and he did, as I was denied credit by someone, until I pull my credit and had The Duck fix it.

And no, I had no choice, being an immigrant with no credit is hard.

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. sorry you went thru that.

[OwnedByFerrets]

9. Here's the trick..you NEVER talk to them or even pick up the phone

[Zywiec]

15. +1000 why not just hang up the phone?

:shrug:

[cbdo2007]

29. Oh come on....that doesn't make nearly as good of a victim story.

Heck, if it were me I'd record all the calls and put them on youtube. The news stations out there would be falling all over themselves to feature this story. It's perfect.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I have a debt collector hounding me for a debt I don't owe.

It's actually kind of funny. They keep sending me settlement offers in the mail. And each one is lower than the last. I figure eventually the settlement will be zero. LOL

[pipi_k]

23. If you wait long enough, they'll probably pay you to settle

:7

[RebelOne]

13. My ex-husband and I had many run-ins with bill collectors.

One harassed us so much that my ex paid them off in pennies. He took bags of pennies to the bill collector's office and said "Here is the payment. Now, count it."

[guitar man]

17. All I can say to that is

Bring it! :grr:

[kentauros]

20. From reading the article, it appears these companies are willing

to take a little legal "pain" and then keep on being abusive. A settlement isn't enough. If they are willing to threaten bodily harm, then they should be willing to receive the threat of corporate death in return. Revoke their charters and jail the abusers. Maybe the rest would straighten up after a few of their "fellow" businesses were removed from existence. Or just keep revoking charters until only the good ones are left.

I'd say, too, that this is the kind of business ripe for nationalizing. In the past decade or so, I've noticed that when dealing personally with both state and federal agencies that the people behind the counter or other end of the phone have been quite nice and cordial.

If businesses that work with the public are fine with employing abusive people for the purpose of being abusive to the public, then they don't deserve to be in business.

[distantearlywarning]

25. We were harrassed a couple of years ago, and it wasn't even our debt!

The assholes found our name and number and decided it was similar enough to some stranger's information that they would start pestering us for that stranger's bill. Calling 18 times a day, refusing to listen when we told them, "we don't know X person and they don't live here so please stop calling", verbally abusive on the phone, etc. It finally stopped when we called them back and told them in no uncertain terms that if they didn't knock it the fuck off that we were going to sue them into the stone age. :mad:

These people are total scum-sucking losers.

[JoeyT]

26. Same here.

I've got one that calls my parents house at odd hours asking for a guy that's never lived there that we don't know. They got that number when the area switched off party lines almost a half a century ago, so it's not like it's even his old number. His name is nothing like ours either.

Every so often I'll be there when they call so I can answer the phone and offer to sue them silly. Then they'll stop for month or two and start right back up. I'd almost feel better about it if it were a scammer, but it's a real debt collection company. At least if it were a scammer I could do a little more about it. With it being a DCC all I can do is report them over and over and over to the FCC.

Edited to add: This has gone on for about three years. I also had one call me demanding I pay a $2200 debt with a company I've never used. I've got no respect for debt collection companies whatsoever.

[SoCalDem]

27. Dead men pay no bills n/t

[Carni]

28. Who puts up with that shit?

Get right back in their faces, then set up a fax machine to call their number (LIKE ALL DAY)-- lay back and enjoy!