debt collection question

[nightshadea]

Ok I got stuck paying off a relatives default on a credit line with a catalog company (long stupid story)

But its almost paid off but the company I was paying merged with another company and in sending me a notice about it they sent me about 50 other peoples debt/collection notices …

Cant people get in trouble for this? including me for reading them and realizing there someone elses ? and should I call the place and tell them to send me an envelope so we can send them back ? or just dump em and say nothing ?

I mean seeing how I’m always told that you cant even tell someone other than the person who owes on the account anything over the phone …

[TipTapTwo]

Read through this personal finance wiki, it gives you a bunch of information about what to do in various debt situations.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/collections

If you wish to cease communications via phone, get their address, send them a letter via Certified Mail (Return Receipt Requested), and specifically tell them to only communicate via writing. Keep a copy of the letter for future reference, as well as the number the USPS uses to track the letter. Do not sign the letter. Collections agencies can sometimes be tricky, and it’s not unheard of them to transpose your signature to documentation they currently have.
[…]
Once you receive the validation notice, even if you know you owe the debt, send a debt validation letter within 30 days of receiving the Collection Ageny’s validation notice. If you believe in good faith that the debt is in error, send them a dispute letter stating the debt is not yours. Even if you know you owe the debt, the collections agencies must prove that you owe the debt. Failure to provide these important details means the agency is not legally entitled to collect said debt. They should be able to answer the following questions:
Is the amount shown the actual amount owed?
Has there been any interest or other charges added, and are the interest and the other charges added legally?
Where is the original contract stating the details of the terms of the debt?
[…]
Once a collection notice has been received, the debtor has 30 days to respond. Failure to respond verifies said debt automatically. If a notice to verify said debt is sent within 30 days of the initial collection attempt, than the Agency must stop collection attempts until the required information verifying the debt is provided.

There is no time requirement within which a Collections Agency needs to validate the debt. They could take a week, a month, a year, or longer; but during that time period, collections must cease.
[…]
"It’s been 10 years since I’ve last heard from a collection agency on a debt. Today I get a call from a different collection agency saying I owe the debt"

Nothing prohibits a collector from calling about it, nor do they have to cease attempting to collect on a debt. In most states, the amount is still owed, but the collections agency is simply not allowed to sue. Reference the FTC guidelines on time-barred debts.

"If I pay a debt owed in collections, and it has been removed from my report, I will never see/hear about the debt again."

This is one of the most contentious myths out there that confuses a lot of people. Sure, in a perfect world, you paid a debt and it SHOULD NOT come back on your report. However a month, two months, a year or maybe even longer, you get your report and there is that damn debt again! How can this be? You paid the debt, but it’s still there! The problem is that there is NO database that CAs keep or follow that shows which debts are paid and which debts are owed. So your debt can literally be sold over and over and over, which means it will show it’s ugly face again and again and again on your report. It is than up to YOU, as the debtor, to provide the necessary documentation that the debt was paid, or that it is past the SOL. The good news is that if you can prove the debt has been paid, or past the SOL, the negative item can be quickly removed.

Hope this helps.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

@TipTapTwo

Read through this personal finance wiki, it gives you a bunch of information about what to do in various debt situations.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/collections
Hope this helps.

Good effort, but I gotta ask: Did you read the OP?
mmm

[Flyer]

@Mean_Mr.Mustard

Good effort, but I gotta ask: Did you read the OP?

I think we can reasonably guess the answer to that.

If I were in the OP’s position, I think I would most likely simply mail back the information, with a letter explaining what happened. Sending it certified mail would be a good idea. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to keep some sort of log, including relevant dates.

As long as the OP acts in good faith, I don’t think that any legal issues will arise.

[TipTapTwo]

I see your point, fair enough. I misread the OP, I missed that she got 50 other people’s collection notices. Sorry for my mostly irrelevant information nightshadea,and thanks Mean Mr. Mustard for catching my mistake.

I do not see how you could get into trouble, debt collection agencies have tried to collect on the wrong people, and sent out enough wrong notices, that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lays out how to deal with similar situations. It also behooves the debt collectors to rectify this situation quickly and show that it was all just an internal systems error on their part, or else you can successfully sue them.

Basically, just keep records of everything (photocopies of the other’s debts, etc), send everything via registered mail, write a letter explaining what happened with the proof of what happened and proof that you are not those other people. Just treat it as if they had just tried to collect on you with one wrong person’s information. It is the same process x50 bundled into one thick envelope.

http://www.consumeradvocates.org/media/why-youre-getting-debt-collection-calls-other-people-and-what-do-about-it

My best tip is to send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested and keep a copy of the letter for your files. In addition, fax a copy of the letter to the debt collection agency immediately.[…]

If It’s Not Your Debt, Dispute It. If it’s not your debt, send a dispute to the collection agency in writing. Once received, the calls must stop (if they haven’t already). In addition, the debt collection agency has to update the way they report the bill on your credit report (if they are doing so) to note that you’re disputing the debt. Again, send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested and keep a copy of the letter for your files. In addition, fax a copy of the letter to the debt collection agency just to be sure.

Know My Debt. Facts about debt collection rights and consumer financial...

How do I dispute a debt that is not mine?

You should send a letter to the collection agency explaining you do not owe the debt. The letter should include the account referenced during the phone calls you received. It should also include your name, address and telephone number. You could include the last four digits of your Social Security number and your year of birth so the agency can verify that you are not the consumer who owes the debt.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) allows consumers to request in writing that a debt collector cease communicating with the consumer. It is important to note, however, that the debt collector can still file suit to collect the debt if the collector does not receive enough information from you to determine that you are not the consumer who owes the debt that is being collected.

here you can see a sample letter for disputing a debt

Sample Letter For Disputing A Debt Collection Notice

still leave off your signature -or make a special weird looking one- if you feel that your collectors are shady and will try to transpose it onto other documents “proving” that you owe them

[astro]

Other than a “hey you screwed up your mail merge” call the processing company I’d just trash them. They can re-issue them. The OP is under no conceivable obligation to mail them back or spend time or effort dealing with them. These are just dunning notices not checks or similar financial instruments of value.

[Joey_P]

I assume you’re not in collections, right? You just got all these notices by accident? Is your name or address on any of them? If it’s not, for example, if they stuffed them all in one envelope with the (non-collections) letter they were sending to you, I’d would just throw them out.

If they all had various other people’s names on them and your address, I’d either mail them back with a note that very briefly explains that there must have been some kind of mix up and all of these notices ended up at your house. Furthermore, I would not give them your name. Just doing that should give them enough info to realize they need to fix the addresses.

If you are now also in collections, that’s a different story, but my first question would be to ask you if your name is on the account. You said you were paying down a relative’s bill, but you didn’t mention if your name is actually on it or if you’re just making the payments.

One last thing, you may want to go to WhitePages . com and pull your phone number off their website. They may already have it, but they might not and if they want/need it, that’s probably the first place they’re going to look.

[Kedikat]

If you dislike debt collectors. Can’t imagine why.
Maybe you could notify all those people that the collection agency sent their private information out to you ( and maybe others ). Then they could decide if they might want to cause a fuss.

[kayaker]

@Kedikat

Maybe you could notify all those people that the collection agency sent their private information out to you ( and maybe others ). Then they could decide if they might want to cause a fuss.

Years ago a local school kept faxing me stuff that wasn’t meant for me. I repeatedly called and explained what was going on, but every few weeks I’d get a fax.

I eventually got fed up, mostly because the damned fax cartridges were a pain to deal with.

So, I made a call to a parent whose daughter I’d recieved a fax about. Her phone number was conveniently included in the fax. I told her what had been happening, and that I now knew stuff she probably didn’t want me to know, including information about her daughter’s birth control medication.

Fixed my problem.

[Saint_Cad]

That is a violation of the FDCPA with a $1000 Federal statutory penalty plus whatever the state penalty is. In your hand is $50000 to $100000 worth of lawsuit judgements. I would contact each person, explain what happened and offer to split the judgement 50/50.

[actualliberalnotoneofthose]

@Saint_Cad

That is a violation of the FDCPA with a $1000 Federal statutory penalty plus whatever the state penalty is. In your hand is $50000 to $100000 worth of lawsuit judgements. I would contact each person, explain what happened and offer to split the judgement 50/50.

That’s along the lines of what I was going to say. Not sure, but maybe you should contact a local FDCPA attorney first. At the very least, I do not see how you could not get out of paying another penny.