How can I do this?

I don't know, but my question is why anyone would want to. Preying on people with significant amounts of credit card debt doesn't sound like a job I'd dig.

I'm with erinbee about the "ick" factor of the position. I do know that in most places someone has declared bankruptcy or has been taken to court over a debt, that would be a matter of public record. Access the records and there are your names and partial addresses. I think.

Rowdymama said:

I recently came across this in a job ad:

"We need the names and addresses of people with over 10k in credit card debt."

How could anyone find this kind of information?


God Squad Member

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Sounds evil from here.

It may be legitimate, it may be legal, but I would not involve myself with such a thing and recommend the same for you, unless it is VERY lucrative and you need the money bad. First, think of how you're going to feel while digging up all this information on people who are already financially ruined to get them involved with lawyers (bad karma). Second, are you sure this ad is really from a law firm? Have you gone to their offices and met with the actual lawyers? I don't know many lawyers who post ads on the internet for people to seek out those with 10k+ debt, probably people trying to take advantage of foreclosures. Third, there's probably something out there that would be more gratifying to you personally and a better use of your time, or I sure hope so?

Rowdymama said:

Sorry Kieth, guess I didn't make myself clear. They don't have the information, they want workers who can dig it up and send it to them. The ad was found at a highly regarded job site that tracks scams carefully. The job is for a law firm - I'm sure it's for advertising purposes, which is perfectly legitimate, these days. No doubt they do bankruptcies, which is also perfectly legitimate.

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Oh, ok. That is different. I would still, personally, hate to be the one to gather that information. Even if it's public, somehow, somewhere, it's still intrusive. JMOWMAN

brainandfingertips said:

It may be legitimate, it may be legal, but I would not involve myself with such a thing and recommend the same for you, unless it is VERY lucrative and you need the money bad. First, think of how you're going to feel while digging up all this information on people who are already financially ruined to get them involved with lawyers (bad karma). Second, are you sure this ad is really from a law firm? Have you gone to their offices and met with the actual lawyers? I don't know many lawyers who post ads on the internet for people to seek out those with 10k+ debt, probably people trying to take advantage of foreclosures. Third, there's probably something out there that would be more gratifying to you personally and a better use of your time, or I sure hope so?

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No offense intended (and welcome to AW!) but I have a problem with statements like the one I bolded above. You seem to care about how these people will feel (in the statement I put in italics) but then you completely negate that in the statement I bolded. In other words, you don't agree with this kind of work unless it benefits you? That's not "good karma" as you phrased it.

Simple Living said:

No offense intended (and welcome to AW!) but I have a problem with statements like the one I bolded above. You seem to care about how these people will feel (in the statement I put in italics) but then you completely negate that in the statement I bolded. In other words, you don't agree with this kind of work unless it benefits you? That's not "good karma" as you phrased it.

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Well, what I was getting at was -- only as a last resort. Like, to save yourself from possibly being one that they may seek out as a client! I mean, if you have a family of 6 and are struggling, who am I to say don't do this job? Me, personally, I would never do this. I was trying to see it from another's perspective.

If I wanted this job, I would run classified ads offering such people help, like credit counseling or debt consolidation or information on filing bankruptcy.

These are "legitimate" and, IMHO, ethical services. Sounds like one of them is looking for leads to clients, and they're willing to pay for them--also legitimate and ethical.

Some good points raised in this thread, but the question I'm having the hardest time finding the answer to is: What the heck does any of this have to do with freelance writing?

Sounds like a direct marketing job. Not illegal per se, and, in many people's opinions, not even wrong. It's targeting a specific consumer group, the same way a company may want to target "homeowners" or "paintball players" or "people who drive Chevys." The fact that the particular group being targeted may have financial problems is irrelevant in the grand scheme of marketing.

Personally, I wouldn't feel great about writing a direct marketing letter encouraging people with more than $10K in credit card debt to declare bankruptcy, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. A lot of people wouldn't think some of the writing I do is "right", or "moral" either.

The way to do it might be to contact credit card companies and see if you can buy their mailing lists... Or, I bet there is a mailing list available somewhere (for a price!) that has a good portion of these people compiled together.

To answer your question, RowdyMama, I don't think there's a cost-effective way to compile the information "by hand".

Dawn

I agree with Silver King in wondering what this has to do with freelance writing. In all honesty, this doesn't have anything to do with writing at all. This is a writing site and this doesn't sound like it fits in any of our forums. I'm not sure where this should be moved.

Let me think about this one.