From: weverka@spot.Colorado.EDU (Robert T. Weverka)
Subject: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (was: How do I handle Phone harassment?)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 13:10:53 GMT

In <1agj04INN5ef@aludra.usc.edu> rmakarem@usc.edu (Total Stranger) writes:
>Hi,
>About two months ago, I started getting phone calls asking for a
>person with the same last name as mine, but I have no idea who
>that person is.
>Apparently the calls are from collection agencies and different
>creditors.  Every time I received a call, I would explain to them
>that they have the wrong number, and would they please not call
>again.  Most of the calls stopped, but there are a couple of 
>agencies that still call frequently, and every time we tell them
>that they have the wrong number they accuse us of lying.  It is
>getting to be unbearable.  What can I do to make the phone calls
>stop?  
>I know the names of the people who are calling, as well as their
>company names and phone numbers (All left conveniently on the
>answering machine), can I bring harassment charges against them?
>

They are in violation of Federal Law.
If you want it stopped write to the FTC and send the loan collector a copy of
your letter asking them to stop.  It you want damages, see a lawyer.


This should be an OAQ  (Occasionally asked Question)

Subject: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

I have listed below, a number of actions that the law prohibits.  This 
list is taken in part from a post by wdstarr@athena.mit.edu (William 
December Starr) in misc.legal

Violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act should be reported to
the Federal Trade Commission.


The law specifically prohibits...

 o  Communication with debtor at unusual or known-inconvient time or place.

 o  Communication with third parties without debtor consent.

 o  Harassment or Abuse

 o  False or Misleading Representations  including
            The threat to take any action that cannot legally be taken or 
            that is not intended to be taken.

            Communication or threatening to communicate to any person 
            credit information which is known or which should be known to 
            be false, including the failure to communicate that a disputed 
            debt is disputed.

            The use or distribution of any written communication which 
            simulates or is falsesly represented to be a document 
            authorized, issued, or approved by any court, official, or 
            agency of the United States or any State, or which creates a 
            false impression as to its source, authorization, or approval.

 o  The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm 
    the physical person, reputation or property of any person.

 o  The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural
    consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.

 o  Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone
    conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or 
    harass any person at the called number.

 o  The false representation or implication that the debt collector is 
    vouched for, bonded by, or affiliated with the United States or any 
    State, including the use of any badge, uniform, or facsimile thereof.

 o  The false representation or implication that any individual is an 
    attorney or that any communication is from an attorney.

 o  The representation or implication that nonpayment of any debt will 
    result in the arrest or imprisonment of any person or the seizure, 
    garnishment, attachment or sale of any property or wages of any person, 
    when such action is unlawful or the debt collector does not intend to 
    take such action.

 o  The false representation or implication that the consumer committed any 
    crime or other personal conduct, in order to disgrace the consumer.

 o  The false representation or implication that accounts have been turned 
    over to innocent purchasers for value.

 o  The false representation or implication that documents are legal 
    process.

 o  The false representation or implication that documents are *not* legal 
    process forms or do not require action by the consumer.