Nationwide Debt Collector harassing wrong person ?
I have the same first and last name as someone with an 'account' at a
nation-wide debt collector. I've told them several times that they have the
wrong person, (wrong middle name), but they still will not stop calling
several times per day.
I know I can send them a certified letter telling them to stop all contact,
but I don't really want to give them my address. This company has a long
history of harassment and questionable ethics, so I'm afraid they may try
to alter the documents to match my name and address. They have not ever
contacted me in writing, so I'm pretty sure they do not have my address.
I'm I being paranoid? I just don't want to ruin my completely spotless
credit record because of some unethical collection complany.
I am not a lawyer, and I am not speaking from experience but...
If you had a friend who had a post office box, can you send them a
Certified Letter, care of your friend, giving only the Box as the
address? This would work better than getting a box yourself, because
the post office requires knowing your physical address when you get
a box, and they are not always fussy about revealing it.
(I know this because I bought a house from someone and people came
looking for him afterwards getting my address from his P.O. Box.)
If you had a friend who was a lawyer, and willing, sending them the
letter care of your lawyer friend, written on the lawyer's stationary,
might be more effective, but a lawyer might want to be paid to do
that, and the collection agency might call your bluff as to an implied
threat to do legal things to them.
Judgement call.
This assumes your phone number is unlisted, which makes me wonder how
they got it. If your phone number is listed, try looking yourself up
on switchboard.com, and if you are there, with the address, they can
likely get your address fairly easily, in which case there might be
less to lose by sending a letter with your real address, unless you
think they are too backward to use the 'net.
While you're at it, you might do well to check your credit rating
because the credit rating agencies might be confused.