Debt shirkers often adopt a policy of refusing to answer the phone, so information concerning the times when a particular debtor is likely to be at home can be most helpful.
At least confirmation that the party in question still resides at that particular address and that they should continue calling/mailing/etc to attempt to collect the debt.
Make sure they actually live there. Possibly find out when they debtor is usually home, so they can call them. Find out where they work. Also, the neighbor might go tell the debtor that someone has been asking about them and that could encourage the debtor to call in.
Calling the neighbors is a fairly rare practice, it is generally reserved for those debtors that have bills that are several years old but of a significant amount. I am not a collector but my SO is.
When I was the business manager for a company, I once had a man from the Dept. of Navy call to verify the employment record of an employee. He called for an appointment and showed up a few days later. He was polite, courteious, and intelligent. I Gave the ex-employee a good recommendation and now he’s a Helicopter pilot in Iraq. I wouldn’t give the agent diddly over the phone, though.
Seriously? You have no problem with these people bothering *you * because your *neighbors * don’t pay their bills? Because personally, I pay my bills promptly partly because I don’t want to be bothered with this sort of crap.
Legal or not, it’s unethical. There’s no good reason to make my neighbor’s financial issues *my * problem.
Aw… don’t be that way. It takes a village to support mercantalist capitalism.
A long ago friend of mine used me as a reference for a loan. I never knew that I was made a personal reference because my friend never told me and, more importantly, the lender never bothered to check with me. Apparently, this friend never paid back the debt in full.
This bad debt gets sold from place to place and every six months or so I get a phone call. Somehow they think that my phone number is his so I get a call and they ask for him. I tell them that no one by that name lives here and they think that I am lying. I can see them calling my neighbor and asking if they know me and what my name is.
Oh I agree, I’d never give out info like that over the phone. But the OP said the caller wouldn’t identify himself beyond giving his name. Every time I’ve gotten a call, it’s always started with “This is Agent Jerome Howard from the Defense Investigative Service. I’m performing a background check on Larry Fine. Could I set up an appointment to meet with you to ask some questions?”
Sometimes the debt is over an actual piece of equipment or a car or something, so I can see calling a neighbour to find out if X piece of equipment is still around the yard or something. I suppose they could just drive by to find out, too, but I guess debt collectors have their own methods.
And I have to say, I’m on the side of the debt collectors, mostly. The surest way to not have debt collectors bugging you is to pay your debts that you owe. Calling neighbours, though, is not cool. It’s not their business, and they shouldn’t be bothered. I think it would be easy enough to get them to stop calling you, just by asking them not to. I think they might be skirting the legality of debt collection by continuing to call neighbours after you’ve asked them to stop. They have no right to harass people who don’t owe them money.
OK, you made me look. I knew who Larry Fine was, but I had to go to Wikipedia to find out which of the Howard brothers was named Jerome in real life.
I am currently undergoing an investigation for security clearance.
The investigator clearly identifies himself and the agency that he works for. He shows ID. He does this even if you don’t want to look at his ID.
I think we can rule out security clearance investigation.
Here in the UK, my mate vets people and he identifies himself.
I also had one of these calls and it felt creepy, so I hung up.
You did notice that **Struan **is posting from Scotland, right? And therefore his “this country” refers to Scotland or the UK? Are you sure that what you’re saying is true under Scottish or UK law? And do you mean “not legally allowed” or “not legally obliged”?
Most calls of this sort I’ve received are of the sort the OP identifies. I sometimes get these calls at my practice where I can’t give out any information on anybody. I won’t confirm that I don’t know somebody, either, since otherwise my “I-can-neither-confirm-nor-deny” speech merely serves as an indicator that I do know the person being inquired after. Example:
Anonymous Caller: Is this Dr. J?
Me: Yes, it is. How may I help you?
AC: Do you know Notta Client? She is a client of yours. [Which, sometimes, she isn’t.]
Me: I’m sorry, but I can neither confirm nor deny that anyone is my client.
AC: Yes, but she told me she was your client.
Me: I’m sorry, but I can neither confirm nor deny that anyone is my client.
AC: Yes, but you can tell me whether you know her because I need to find her.
Me: I’m sorry, but I can neither confirm nor deny that anyone is my client.
AC: Yes, but I know that you do know her, so you need to tell me how to get in touch with her.
Me: Sorry, I have a client waiting.
Good times.
Ah, didn’t notice that. I did note that the OP was in the US so that’s where my thinking went. I have no info on the laws regarding collections in the UK, I was refering to US law. Sorry about that Struan.
I did mean not legally allowed. A bill collector may not state that they are collecting a debt to anyone that is not the debtor. From the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act…
Even when sending mail to the debtor, You can’t have your business name on the envelope if it would indicate that you are in collections and you can’t use postcards. link to the full text of the FDCPA.
TBH given the nature of this thread I should have said “my country” Antinor01. :smack: . Absolutely no apology needed!
I must admit to a bit of a knee-jerk reaction regarding debt collection due to what happened with the Poll Tax (Community Charge if you want to wiki information) in the UK. I was involved a bit with some civil disobedience things and I think that the experience has given me a permanently low opinion of baillifs and sheriff’s officers.
I disagree, there’s nothing wrong with asking. I also have absolutely no problem with people refusing to cooperate with the debt collector.
I used to get those every so often.
I told them that I get $100 per hour for such services and as soon as I get their check I would be happy to pass a message to my neighbor.
They hang up at that point. 
I disagree that there’s nothing wrong with asking, it’s an egregious invasion of privacy, both theirs and mine. My neighbors’ financial problems are none of my concern, and some asshole feels that it’s okay to bother me at home during my extremely limited free time with a problem that is between him and them? Fuck him, hard, sideways, and with something sharp.
Granted, I have a zero tolerance policy about *any *unsolicited phone calls. I firmly believe that my phone exists for **MY ** convenience. But there’s something really spectacularly sleazy about this particular tactic, that goes way beyond asking me if I’d like to participate in a survey this evening (which, incidentally, NO, I DON’T! And if I DO, I’LL CALL YOU! But rather than waiting for that, you should probably consider getting a REAL JOB).
The fact that FatBaldGuy had to look up who Jerome Howard was makes it extra-special.