“My phone rang, and an angry voice demanded:

      “Is this the correct number for Mark Miller?”

      “Who is this?”

      “Is this the correct number for Mark Miller?”  Louder and angrier.

      “Who is this?” I repeated. 

      The caller would not answer, but kept repeating their question: “Is this the correct number for Mark Miller?”

      And this was just the start.  After that my phone rang six, eight, ten times daily, demanding to know if this was my number.

      A quick search on Google confirmed what I suspected:  This was a collection agency with a bad reputation.  One of the largest of its kind in the country, it purchases debts from banks for pennies on the dollar, then sets out to collect them by fair means or foul, foul more often than fair. Their take-no-prisoners approach has resulted in their being ordered to pay $19 million in refunds to consumers, as well as another $8 million in fines, and has been ordered to cease collection on an additional $3 million in debts. A paragon of business ethics it is not.  But what could I do to get them to stop harassing me?

            Just to be sure, I ordered my credit report from www.freecreditreport.com.  It showed that I had excellent credit and nothing in collection.  Obviously a mistake had been made.  I was being targeted for someone else’s debt.  Attempting to explain this to the people who kept calling me was useless; they simply refused to listen.  So, what could I do now?

            At the California Attorney General’s website I found a section titled “Public Inquiry Unit,” where a consumer can file a complaint against a business.  I filed a complaint against this company, detailing what had happened and what I had found out.

            Within days I received a letter from the Attorney General’s office.  They had received my complaint and forwarded it to the offending company.  A day later I received another letter from the Attorney General, stating that the company had responded to their inquiry and a copy of their response was attached.

“The consumer is not the person we were seeking to contact,” the letter read, “and we sincerely regret the consumer’s every inconvenience … we removed the capability of calling the consumer’s telephone number from our calling system … (the company) will not again call the consumer’s telephone number.”

What is the best course of action if you find yourself in this unpleasant situation? Be sure the debt is yours and that it is legitimate. The information collection agencies receive is often inaccurate and they end up going after the wrong person, as in my case. Make them prove you owe this debt.  If it isn’t yours, make a complaint to the Attorney General.  Stand up for yourself.  

Know your rights and insist they be respected. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1977 consumers have numerous rights that limit what a collection agency can do.  It’s your money, and your good name that are at stake.”

Have a great day everyone, Mark