Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
collection tactics
I may have a debt but am not sure if it even exists. We have got calls at home -work and relitive searching for personal info on us. They claim thy are from a law firm and when I searched the phone # it was from some collection agent but using a front as a law office. When I spoke to the caller I told them i would not give them my bank acct # like they asked for . I also told them in writting and over the phone to send by mail some proof of the debt and we can take it from there once it was validated. I even sent a certified letter saying the same thing and to also stop harassing relatives and my work and to contact me by mail If this debt is true i will take care of it but it needs to be validated. Now I never got anything by mail but the returned certifierd card what they signed. They stopped the calls at relatives and at work until 2 days ago they started again. Is it legal for them to harrass work and relatives after the letter I sent them to coraspond by mail and to validate the debt. Because I told them I do not remember such debt. And for them to insist on retreving my bank info as the method of payment. So they can debt my acct. is it legal. Was it right for me to send the letter to stop the harassment ?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: collection tactics
Never give your bank account info to a collection agency for any reason, they will bleed you dry. If they did not respond to your validation letter, they are violating the law. Also by calling your workplace and relatives they are violating the law.
Do not speak to them at all. I will write them a letter on my letterhead for a nominal fee and maybe they would leave you alone thereafter.
I would very much like to hear more from you directly, because you might well have a case under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.