Harassing Phone Calls
Complaint
Gloria Engle
Country: United States
We have been receiving unwanted phone calls from Northland Group since 5/18/2007. They call from 1-866-380-8783 every day and ask for a person whose name I've never heard before.
It seems as someone used our address and phone number in their loan application, and Northland Group is trying to collect the debt.
For some reason people from Northland Group refuse to believe that the person they are looking for is not leaving with us, and continue their harassing calls.
I submitted my complaint to FTC, but I thought I should also let know here about this issue.
Northland Group
7831 Glenroy Road
Suite 110
Edina, Mn. 55439
800-800-8191
www.northlandgroup.com
It seems as someone used our address and phone number in their loan application, and Northland Group is trying to collect the debt.
For some reason people from Northland Group refuse to believe that the person they are looking for is not leaving with us, and continue their harassing calls.
I submitted my complaint to FTC, but I thought I should also let know here about this issue.
Northland Group
7831 Glenroy Road
Suite 110
Edina, Mn. 55439
800-800-8191
www.northlandgroup.com
Comments
They hope you will get upset and just pay the bill to get rid of them.
Yes , I know you don't owe the bill , they know that also but try to intimidate you
into paying it to collect thier bonus and clear another account off their list.
DO NOT EVEN TALK TO THEM ON THE TELEPHONE !!
It will come back to bite you in the end.
You're still full of typical debt collector half-truths and misinformation. You probably know a lot about what you could get away with. Now you need to learn what it takes to retain customers who can choose to go elsewhere. Good luck.
Consumer complaints against Northland fall into two primary areas: 1) Abuse and harassment; and 2) Misidentification with abuse and harassment.
There really is no excuse for either, as they know they are intentionally doing it.
You can find many cases reported where a debt collector could not possibly have located the correct person, where in addition the account could not possibly have been opened thru id theft, yet the debt collector has SSN and DOB. Last 4 digits, or all of it, they prove nothing, as they can be obtained via skip tracing or access to credit reports. It's all no more reliable that the party you are dealing with.
Although a debt collector may wish to verify SSN to make sure they are contacting the correct party, since they are legally obligated under FDCPA to not disclose information on one person's debt to a third party, it may still not be in any consumer's best interest to disclose identity information to anyone who calls you on the phone. There are people even lower than debt collectors, engaged in phishing, who also know how to use telephones. Telemarketers fouled their own nest so badly it is now illegal for them to call most residences, and the corrupt practices of many debt collectors are little different.
Account records are routinely sold with partial information, often even with contract terms prohibiting access to original creditor documentation, and debt collectors routinely attempt to pressure every consumer they call to pay even when they know how flimsy their information is. This results in large parts of the debt collection business actively engaging in little more than a scam. Money is in fact collected from people who do not owe it, on debts they do not owe, using deception and misrepresentations made by debt collectors to accomplish that result. That is called FRAUD.
There is nothing stopping any debt collector from using the U.S. mail to send a collection letter providing basic information on the alleged debt to the name and whatever address they have, including the collection agency's contact information, along with the required notification of the consumer's right to dispute and request validation of the debt. It may not allow your to blow smoke as easily to evade some consumer's dispute that you contacted the wrong party, but you never had any legal right to use deception to collect anyway, so you have lost nothing you actually had any right to do.
In fact, if you wanted to be honest, you could simply verify identity of the consumer in a call by using the past address of the account, and follow up with your letter. The only reason most debt collectors prefer to use the phone is that it allows them to use abuse and threats to press for payment while avoiding those pesky FDCPA laws. And if someone ends up paying some bill they never owed, that's their problem. You make your quota.
There is nothing stopping any debt collector from using the U.S. mail to send a collection letter providing basic information on the alleged debt to the name and whatever address they have, including the collection agency's contact information, along with the required notification of the consumer's right to dispute and request validation of the debt. It may not allow your
I assure you that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can stop you !
After the customer sends you a certified letter by u.s. mail , return receipt , telling you to stop all communications , including written letters. YOU BETTER STOP , it's a $ 1000.00 penalty for each and every call or letter you { send or call }
The $1000.00 for each and every violation goes to the customer/creditor.
Say a collection agency calls you 75 times after receiving the certified letter , return receipt,
You sue them and get $ 75,000.00
The $ 1000.00 for each violation is mandatory and required by statute / federal law. It's not up to the judge ! It's mandatory. You have to have proof,such as the letters you received from the collection agency after they signed for the certified letter, caller i.d. info [ you need to ask your attorney how to get caller i.d. proof showing the calls from the collection agency. Some phone companies will make a list of the incoming calls available to your attorney with a subpoena. All phone companies will I'm sure.
Get an attorney and sue if your rights under the-- fair debt collection practices act-- are violated.
GOOD LUCK GUYS.
You need to stop wasting time on here complaining to thin air.
You need to get online and look up the __ Fair Debt Collection Practices Act / F.D.C.P.A.
It is federal law listing your rights and what you can do to stop rogue collection agency's.
Each violation is a $1,000.00 penalty, which you personally receive.
You need to send them a Cease and Desist Letter.
Send it , U.S. Postage , Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested.
That way you will get the green card back with their signature proving they signed for the letter.
Only send letter by U.S. Mail , other delivery services will usually not be recognized as proof by the judge.
After you get the return receipt back with their signature; any calls after will be recognized offenses.
each $ 1,000.00 minimum set by law. Any actual damages that are more and can be proved and the judge decides so the amount can be more than the $ 1,000.00 minimum set for each violation after your return receipt showing they signed for your cease and desist letter.
Your attorney's fee's are usually reimbursed as well, the judge orders paid.
Example__ after your certified mail proof comes back the collection agency calls you 3 times a day for 3 weeks. that's 63 calls. each call @ $1,000.00 each minimum comes to-->> $ 63,000.00
Like I said above, get online and look up -->> F.D.C.P.A. / Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
There are other violations as well. You need to speak with an attorney.
Call your local BAR association for attorney's. Ask for an attorney that practices sueing collection agency's for violating your right's under the FDCPA.
Most attorney's take such cases on a contigency basis. Their fee's paid after they win and the collection agency made to pay your attorney fee's.
Take the collection agency to court. Don't forget to discuss your attorney getting a restraining order
barring the collection agency from calling you in the future after the case is finished.
Also making sure in a court order that the collection agency CAN NOT sell the alleged debt to another junk buyer. Who would start harassing you all over.
Don't take the harassment. Take them to court. It is federal law their breaking. Your right's their breaking.
Anyone breaking the law is a criminal.
These collection agency's are criminals !
They have been calling me everyday since. I am reporting them to FTC.
I told them that I didn't remember having this debt and they said they don't even have information about the purchases I made. I was very polite to the man on the phone and gave my house number for him to call about it later.
I said not to call my cell phone because it's a prepaid phone that charges me 10 cents every time someone calls me. The next day, I get a call on my cell phone and its the debt collector! I'm so shocked because I never gave them my cell number so they must have traced it! Now this [***] keeps calling every day, sometimes twice! I had to program the number in my phone so I can tell who is calling.
The idiot had the nerve yesterday to call me from another number, which I answered. I just hung up because I've already told him that I don't remember this debt. If I owed it, seven years has gone by and it should be gone by now. Why are they bringing up old debt that should have been cleared after the seven years by law?
I'm afraid to pick up my cell phone now, which is reserved for calls from jobs since I'm unemployed, because I think this awful man will be calling me from another number that isn't programed in my phone. I'm so miserable and depressed over this incident. I only bought this cell phone in the first place so any jobs that have my resume can call me for an interview. I don't need a wretched debt collecting company calling me and asking for debt I don't remember about.
Beware! Do not call the number if you receive a letter in the mail from the Northland Group. Promptly tear it up and throw it away.
You will always owe the said debt unless you bankrupt on it.
The 7 years your talking about is the statute of limitations.
That only prohibits them from sueing you in a court of law.
They can still call and send letters and such.
Look it up online !
Always refer to the debt as an -- " ALLEGED" DEBT
However, it's best to not even talk to a collection agency over the phone. Especially if the debt is past
the statute of limitations. You could make a very large mistake, saying the wrong thing and end up with
with the statute of limitations reset back to day one and you would could be legally sued once again in court.
ALLEGED DEBT <------
Do NOT talk to a collection agency under any circumstances.
They LIE !!!!!
If you fel the need to communicate with one, do it by mail only !
Quicker you take my advice the quicker you will be rid of them.
They will not stop.
They will harass you until you pay the bill just so they will go away.
They will try to get you / force you to pay it just to get them to go away.
Thank you for the info. For those of us who dont owe the debt they are calling for, can you please list a few pointers on how to best handle these folks?
Thanks again. Cisco