How to stop debt collectors from calling?

   Yeah, I'm sure you're saying "Pay them", or something like that, but it's
a lot more complicated, and the debt is not mine.

  We own a double, and we live on the south side.  For the past couple of
years, my sister has lived on the north side.  She pays a bit of rent to
help out, but she doesn't make a lot at her job, so she didn't have a phone.
I wired a connection over there so that she could occasionally make outgoing
calls if she needed to.

  Long story short, 10 years ago she had a messy divorce, where her husband
took off with her best friend.  She then found out he owed a LOT of money,
which he had hidden from her.  Despite his assurances of taking care of it,
he took the cheaper way out of bankruptcy, which left my sister holding the
bag.  All of the creditors went after her. (this was when she lived in
Michigan)

  She paid what she could, but it wasn't much.  Fast forward 10 years.  My
sister tells me that the "statute of limitations" is long past, and that no
one can still try to collect for any of the past debts.  But guess what?
They are.  Any given day, we receive between half a dozen to a dozen
automated phone calls.  3 or 4 of these leave messages asking for her to
call them back about a "personal business matter", and always have a part
that says "by continuing to listen to this message, you acknowledge receipt
of the message".

  It is getting pretty annoying.  It started about a year ago, and it has
gotten worse and worse over time, instead of abating like she told us it
should.  It appears that even 10 years later, the debt is being sold to new
companies, and they are going after her with a continuous barrage of
telephone calls and messages.  The annoying thing is that it is on OUR line,
and our machine, which she doesn't check.

  Is there anything we can do in order to stop all of these harassing calls?

                                                                            
Thanks!

 

Make her get her own phone. Given how long you've allowed this to persist,
changing your own phone number may be the only pragmatic solution.

The business between the caller and your sister is between the caller and
your sister - you have no standing to make them stop calling her, only she
does.

 

Call the number they give and report that she longer uses the number
and you don't know her whereabouts.  We had a similar problem on a
phone number we were given by the phone company, and after doing this,
the calls dropped to nothing.  It takes a little while for the word to
get around, but it does.  BTW, keep track of those numbers and the
date and times of your conversations.

 On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:39:45 -0600, hchickpea@hotmail.com wrote:


Won't do any good if she's still using his number and giving it out.
Only solution is to cut her away from his number.

--Vic

 On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:39:45 -0600, in misc.consumers.frugal-living
hchickpea@hotmail.com wrote:


We still get calls for people we have never heard of even after telling the debt
collectors we are not them and the debt collectors said they would not call any
more.