My sister seems to have given out my phone number … again. I got them to stop calling for a long time and now the creditors are calling like crazy again. I’m really angry. Given that I had already reached the conclusion that having anything to do with her is unhealthy I feel like this is just an extra slap in the face to remind me of why I don’t want to have her in my life. She is not capable of having her bad decisions affect only her. I realize that people end up having bill collectors calling for all kinds of good reasons and that not everyone in debt is a shitty person. My sister hasn’t felt like working in over a year so she hasn’t. She truly is getting harassed because she makes shit-tastic decisions and I’m fucking sick of them becoming my problem.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH
I’m guessing she doesn’t have a line of her own that you can refer them to?
Not that that solves the problem of getting calls from random, occasionally rude people, of course.
I sorry. 🙁
If you acknowledge knowing the person they will never leave you alone. They would be fine with me paying them just to make them go away. If I remain steadfast in not knowing who she is then maybe they might go away. *sigh*
Ah haa. Is it sad that I didn’t even think of that?
That’s really shitty. I’m sorry.
One option if you are up to it: If you write and mail the collection agency(-ies) a letter asking them to cease telephone contact, they are required by federal law to stop the phone calls (though they can still send letters). Although not legally required, your letter should be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the physical address (not a P O Box) of the collection agency to make it less likely that they will claim to have not received any such letter.
I found a relevant form letter here[privacyrights.org]. You will need to get some information from the caller or a letter they sent you (if any) to make sure your letter has as much information as needed to get them to locate her account and stop the calls.
I did this once and the calls ceased the same day the letter reached them.
Usually they hang up on me so fast that I can’t get the name of the company, let alone any kind of other information that would allow me to send them such a letter. This time the barrage only seemed to go on for three days. They have stopped again. I hope they don’t start again. Maybe my repeated insistence that, “I don’t know this person!!!” convinced someone. 🙂