Do Collectors or Original Creditors Come To Your Neighborhood

[AJ]

Do collectors, or original creditors, send people to your neighborhood, and have them park in front of your house, in the middle of the night? Or any time of the day? To check out what kind of property you may own, or where to serve court documents?

 

Thanks.

[fisthardcheese]

Usually not.  Unless you owe money to a Mob boss or something (Not that Midland or the Sherman Group aren't too far from that).

 

If they have your address in order to "scope out" your house, it is much cheaper and easier for them to just give that address to the sherrif to serve the papers to you legally.

 

They bank on easy, default judgements, which they get 95% of the time.  Then they can just have the courts force you to reveal your bank and other funds in a debtor exam and go to your bank with the court order.  That is their business model.  They wouldn't spend the time, resources and money to individually track debtors down in person to accomplish the same thing that they have a huge network of paper mill lawyers to do cheaper and easily through abuse of the court systems.

[WhoCares1000]

That might have been a practice in the past but now, with the FDCPA and uncertainty behind that when it comes to this practice, plus neighborhood watch programs which would get the police called for activity like that, it would be a very expensive on the JDB compared to the court practice. If they are unsure of your address or where to serve you, they might follow you or stake you out to find that information. It could also be a 1 man bottom feeder type operation where they recycle phones and have no real serveable address so they do not care.

I would be more worried about what happens if they sue you than if they have someone staking you out.

[AJ]

A car  was parked in front of the house for two hours. It came at 2:30 am. The driver did not get out, and he/she did not use his phone or computer. The car was totally dark inside. When the car left, it started up, and drove off with the lights turned off. There's never any traffic on our street in the middle of the night, so i just wondered why someone might park in front of the house.  Maybe the driver took a nap. 

[Clydesmom]

Do collectors, or original creditors, send people to your neighborhood, and have them park in front of your house, in the middle of the night? Or any time of the day? To check out what kind of property you may own, or where to serve court documents?

 

Thanks.

 

Some repossession agents use "spotters" for vehicles that are up for repo and are difficult to track down.  Consumers are not wary of cars parked in their neighborhood but a tow truck raises suspicion.  Spotters are also sometimes used to determine when a home owner has vacated a property that is heading into foreclosure so the bank can go in and secure the house.  

 

A process server might hang out for a few hours trying to serve papers on someone who is dodging service.  Beyond that:  no they don't routinely hang out but I could see where they might hire a PI or someone to watch a consumer who they felt was hiding assets in a debtor's exam case.

[Rogue198]

Bail bond enforcment agents will also sometimes scope out possible addresses of the fugitive they are after.

[Guest]

I've had ex girlfriends do this. It's in direct violation of the U.S. Fair Dating and Breakup Act.

[willingtocope]

Were there two people in the car?

 

Seriously, if it happens again, get a license number and call the police. 

 

Fifty years ago when we were first married, we lived in an apartment across the street from apartments that were rented to nurses from the local hospital.  A peeping tom used to park in our lot and watch the nurses with binoculars.  We called the cops.

[AJ]

The house and car are always paid on time. There is no lawsuit for any of this debt, so debtor's exam or papers to be delivered. No fugitives, or exes living here, or in the neighborhood. So, that's why I wondered if a collection agency would send a spy to check out the house to decide if they may want to sue. 

 

The car had very dark windows. I could not see in. I watched off and on, and saw no one get in, or out. I tried to get the licensee plate but I could not see it.

 

I will call the police if this happens, again.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

[tantan1968]

The house and car are always paid on time. There is no lawsuit for any of this debt, so debtor's exam or papers to be delivered. No fugitives, or exes living here, or in the neighborhood. So, that's why I wondered if a collection agency would send a spy to check out the house to decide if they may want to sue. 

 

The car had very dark windows. I could not see in. I watched off and on, and saw no one get in, or out. I tried to get the licensee plate but I could not see it.

 

I will call the police if this happens, again.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

 

Remember that its not illegal for someone to be sitting in a dark car late at night if its parked on a public street . Suspicious maybe but not illegal. Just saying that if this sort of thing happens again and you do call the police they may take it seriously or they may tell you to take a chill pill and mind your own business.