Advice from Nashville's Financial Guru Dave Ramsey
Dave Says
By Dave Ramsey
Author of Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover
1/24/2005
Creditors are harassing the parents for money!
Dear Dave,
My family has been estranged from my older sister for several years. My sister has run up a pretty large debt that I don’t think she’ll ever be able to get out of. There is one particular debt from The May Company – who owns Hecht’s here locally – on which I think she only owes about $400–500. This company got hold of my parent’s phone number somehow. They called and made my mom feel so bad that she paid part of the bill. Now this company is calling my parents two or three times a day, knowing that if they’re mean enough to her she’ll pay them some money. What can they do?
Donna in Colorado Springs, CO
Dear Donna,
What I recommend is that your parents get an answering machine, if they don’t already have one, which has a memo button on it that allows them to record conversations. The next time the collectors call, your dad should get on the phone and explain to them that your parents are not liable for your sister’s debt. He needs to let these people know that their Gestapo tactics caused his wife to make a payment she should never have made. Tell the collectors that he is recording this conversation so he has a record of the fact that he’s told them they are harassing someone who is not even on this account. Tell them that if they ever contact either of your parents again in any way that he will immediately sue them. Furthermore, he will put signs in his yard stating that Hecht’s harasses innocent people and will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. This is a violation of federal law and the Federal Fair Debt Collections Act. If the caller can’t understand that, get their supervisor and repeat it. Your father has got to climb all over these people because what they’re doing is illegal, mean and immoral. He’s got to really get their attention, and that’s not by paying them money he doesn’t owe.
Even if he did owe the bill, calling three times a day is still a violation of federal law. He’s not going to get rid of these people by being nice.
-Dave
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