Someone else's bank is calling me up and telling me to tell people they're poor!

Lantern Jack · Oct 22, 2005

I kid you not, this is the second time this happened!

Someone's bank is calling me up and having me relay messages to my neighbors. Their checks have bounced like Rubber Man's spunk! They're in deficit! Whatever! And I'm doing it!

I'm going over to their houses, knocking on their doors and telling them: Hey, your bank says you're a deadbeat! Either get a defibrillator or go to debtor's jail!

Okay, maybe not as abrasive as that, but isn't it weird, all the same?

I mean, what is this, the 1920s, when banks held a monopoly over man, heart mind and soul?

It's like I'm in "It's a Wonderful Life," when I should be in "Harvey!"

Unique · Oct 22, 2005

That's odd. Your neighbors must have given your # as an alternate. Otherwise, I don't believe a legitimate bank would go to that length.

You might live out in the country, but I don't think you live that far out in the country.

(If they come knockin' make sure the repo man takes the right mule.)

Lantern Jack · Oct 22, 2005

Actually, I live in a country-locked development. The bank lady said she looked for a phone number for a person who lived near them. I have no idea what nefarious devices she utilized.

Isn't this, like, illegal dispersal and publication of personal information. I mean, thought bank records were as confidential as medical records. At least, people always seem to react as though they are when you bring up how fortified their bank accounts are or whatnot.

Not that I make it a habit to ask...

DaveKuzminski · Oct 22, 2005

I believe they've violated someone's privacy by using you as an intermediary. You might want to offer to appear as a witness for the individual you were asked to contact in case they want to sue the bank.

If a bank had that little respect for my information, I'd sue them and then change banks.

Unique · Oct 22, 2005

I'd be inclined to agree, Dave. I wouldn't like that one bit. Bouncy-bounce or no.

If they're that worried - they should send a representative to the house.

Are you sure this isn't a scam, Jack?

AdamH · Oct 22, 2005

This is a total breach of privacy unless your neighbour did give them your phone number as an alternate contact. But even then, they're not supposed to tell you anything about your neighbours financial situation. They can say stuff like "Could you please have Mr. Bouncey-bounce call us here. It is very important." Of couse, there's an exception to this: if they gave their bank permission to talk to you about their banking stuff. But, even then, it would have to be in writing. But I couldn't imagine why someone would give such permission other than being a Power of Attorney to an ill person but you'd have to agree it ahead of time.

Bottom line...very weird. Doesn't sound legit to me.

reph · Oct 22, 2005

Collection agencies and skip tracers use the reverse phone directory (look at a house number, get the phone number) to find neighbors of people who owe money. I've got phone calls like that. One was about a man who'd defaulted on a loan from a credit union. He'd given the address next door, where he'd lived some time before that.

If you don't want to be involved, have the phone company remove you from the reverse directory at its next printing. You might escape some telemarketers that way, too, the building contractors who want to visit your street next week to see if anyone needs aluminum siding.

robeiae · Oct 22, 2005

Man, you guys are rough. So am I to understand that someone in debt should be suing the person/company they are in debt to because said person/company is trying to locate them by making phone calls? It's all downhill from here...

Rob

Unique · Oct 22, 2005

robeiae said:
Man, you guys are rough. So am I to understand that someone in debt should be suing the person/company they are in debt to because said person/company is trying to locate them by making phone calls? It's all downhill from here...

Rob

Well, Rob - if they won they wouldn't be in debt any more.

September skies · Oct 22, 2005

robeiae said:
Man, you guys are rough. So am I to understand that someone in debt should be suing the person/company they are in debt to because said person/company is trying to locate them by making phone calls? It's all downhill from here...

Rob

It's not because they are trying to collect, but because of the way they are doing it.

What's next? Showing up at your daughter's high school "tell your father he better come pay...."

It's not professional. Period. I have a few neighbors that are scum. They are the last people in the world who should know anything about my financial records. (I live in a gorgeous 100+ year-old historical home but now have a couple of the old homes on my street turned into apartments....attracting druggies and such)

paprikapink · Oct 22, 2005

The thing is (my new favorite phrase) it's between the bank and the bouncer. The bank shouldn't bring the neighbor into it. The bouncer has the right not to have their reputation besmirched -- especially when you consider how often financial and bill-collecting entities are wrong about what you owe and what you've paid. Is there anyone over 30 reading this who has never had to make phone call after phone call to get some monolith to correct their billing? The State of California garnished my wages for 3 years to collect for a college library book that I had returned and paid the fines on. I'd point out their mistake, they'd pay me back the money, then they'd take it out again. That's just one teeny example. Maybe LJ's neighbor's are having genuine debt problems, but the bank can't take it on themselves to spread that around the neighborhood.

robeiae · Oct 22, 2005

Supposed you had inherited a million dollars and the bank with the funds could not find you (maybe you had been hiding from bill collectors). Would it be okay for the bank to call a neighbor and ask that neighbor to have you call the bank, if he happens to see you? Without details, the neighbor mught assume it was a debt-issue: your reputation is "besmirched."

Rob

September skies · Oct 22, 2005

Not my neighbors! they'd kill me or something. (I swear, we have police and sirens outside daily - I rarely even bother looking at all my cameras anymore.)

Cabinscribe · Oct 22, 2005

Call me paranoid, but what makes you so sure it's really the bank that is calling you?

Maybe the neighbors themselves are calling, trying to determine if anyone is home!

Then, one day, when you don't answer the phone, they pull up with a moving van and abscond with the contents of your house!

O.K., maybe I'm not paranoid; maybe I just have a criminal mind ...

Shwebb · Oct 22, 2005

For plainspeak about the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, see here:
http://www.edcombs.com/CM/Actions/actions108.asp

There is some question as to whether the bank can contact the neighbor--if the bank is acting as its own agent, it may not be covered under the letter of the law.

paprikapink · Oct 22, 2005

robeiae said:
... Without details, the neighbor mught assume it was a debt-issue: your reputation is "besmirched."

"Without details" is not the same as calling and saying to tell those deadbeats we want them to pay. At least, I see a distinction there.

Lantern Jack · Oct 22, 2005

This is the really horrible and fishy part. Well, it's really a two-pronged horribleness.

The first prong: they were black and I'm white. The poor guy's wife comes to the door, bags under her eyes you could carry boulders in, hands white as mine from bleach, and looks me up and down in college vest and button-front shirt (which I bought at the Salvation Army) and she just glared at me like I was an embossed and scented card-carrying clan member. Then she couldn't hear too well and my voice dialed up and up from courteous whisper to bullhorn, so I ended up broadcasting her husband's non-payment to the whole street.

Then a month or so later, he's dead, the husband, killed in a four-wheeler accident. I was knocked crooked with guilt and ended up pitching a silver crucifix on their lawn and touching off my first prayer in ages as I went bowling by their house one night on a late-hour run.

I'll never forget that lady's look. She was old enough to have lived through the civil rights '60s and, when I knocked on that door, she just glared at me with bald loathing, like I was evicting them from the neighborhood on grounds of their color, like in "A Raisin In the Sun."

And I'm pretty sure it was a bank calling and not a crank or a scam, because it was a lady's voice on the other end, all crisp and I-make-more-money-than-your-whole-family dismissiveness.

Unique · Oct 23, 2005

Oh, Jack. That's so sad.

Bad things happen to good people. I'm glad you're one of the good guys.

Fractured_Chaos · Oct 23, 2005

robeiae said:
Man, you guys are rough. So am I to understand that someone in debt should be suing the person/company they are in debt to because said person/company is trying to locate them by making phone calls? It's all downhill from here...

Rob

Not if all they're doing is trying to locate them. But giving out personal information (ie; "Tell them they have returned checks") is a big no-no IMO.

Fractured_Chaos · Oct 23, 2005

robeiae said:
Supposed you had inherited a million dollars and the bank with the funds could not find you (maybe you had been hiding from bill collectors). Would it be okay for the bank to call a neighbor and ask that neighbor to have you call the bank, if he happens to see you? Without details, the neighbor mught assume it was a debt-issue: your reputation is "besmirched."

Rob

Um, darlin'...I -DON'T- want my neighbors knowing I inherited a million dollars, OKay? And if it's that, the bank can say, "Please advise them, this is not to collect on a debt," and leave it at that. Financial information is NO ONE'S business.

Moondancer · Oct 23, 2005

If a it's a violation to discuss financial matters with a spouse without express permission, it's a pretty fair bet there are right to privacy violations going on. If they keep calling, LJ has a shot at a harrassment suite, too. I, personally, would have a hard time telling someone who is frequently cheating his bank to sue them over his right to privacy, but LanternJack shouldn't have to be the middle man. It's between the debtee and the debtor.

I had that happen a few times when someone used my number as a point of contact, then defaulted on their loans. I finally had to tell them to stop calling because: 1. I can only tell the recipient of the message to call the company, 2. I was not the one who owed them money, 3.They were calling so much that it interfered with the normal process of my daily life, 4. All of the above constituted harrassment.

It took the actual threat of reporting them to finally get them to stop... so my advice would be to skip steps 1-4 and go straight to the threat.

PattiTheWicked · Oct 23, 2005

Banks do weird things when they want money. I got a call several months ago from a company in Texas, who was trying to trace my husband's first wife. Now, bear in mind that (a) she lives in South Carolina and has NEVER lived in Ohio (b) we've been married for six years, and they've been divorced for twelve and (c) she has changed her name legally and hasn't been known by our last name in a looooong time.

So I get this call saying, "We're trying to locate B---- W-----." I'm like, "Uh, that's my husband's ex wife. She doesn't live here. Never has." The nice lady then proceeded to tell me that the ex wife had defaulted on a car loan, what she bought with it, and the exact dollar amount that was owed. I'm like, "You know, I don't really need to know this."

She explained that she had gotten MY number by going back a dozen years in the ex's credit history, finding it attached to my husband's credit history when they were married, and then tracking HIM down. She then asked me for the ex's contact information, which I flat out refused to give her. I told her I'd pass along the message that they were looking for the ex, and I sent her a nice little email about the whole thing. They told me far more than I even wanted to know about the situation.

MarkPettus · Oct 23, 2005

Total strangers call you on the phone, and you are polite to them when they ask you to convey messages?

Ms. Prim I-make-more-money-than-your-whole-damned-family would get a free French lesson for her trouble (as in -- pardon my french) if she called me. I'm sorry, but calling me about anthing other than ME, is rude. Expect rudeness in return.

Suggestions:
Introduce them to your friend, Mr. Dial Tone.

Ask them for their personal information, home address, mother's maiden name... tell them that you require the information to protect their privacy.

Speak Mandarin.

Sound crazy and say, "How did you find me here? I told you I wouldn't kill again. Not for you. I want to know how you found me."

Or, "Look, talk to the police, they're looking for him, too. Can you imagine? I lived next door to a serial killer. What's your name? If he comes back around, I'll tell him you're looking for him."

Moondancer · Oct 23, 2005

I have to confess, I've never done any of those things with bill collectors... however, I have banged my phone hard against my desk when telemarketers call. It was immensely satisfying and those particular ones have never called back again. I have often grilled these callers as well. I ask them their home phone numbers so I can call them during their dinner time and after they've gone to bed. The worst is when you've up all night and the phone is constantly ringing all day long while you're trying to get rid of the little baggies under your eyes... I'd rather have spam in my email than have to answer the phone in the middle of a good dream. Junk mail I can delete or throw in the trash. Catching up on sleep is a whole different problem. I'm one of those that the "Do not Call List" has failed. Oh, well, Luck of the Irish, anyone?

BradyH1861 · Oct 23, 2005

When I first got the phone number that I have had for three years now, I got a lot of calls for about two years for the previous person at that number. Apparently he was quite the deadbeat. Despite telling them that the person didn't use this number anymore, etc, I finally resorted to handing the phone to my young son and telling him to tell the person on the other end about Thomas the Train.

That stopped the calls.

Brady

Someone else's bank is calling me up and telling me to tell people they're poor!

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