Midland comes calling

[MuteDebt]

Hi there,

I am an old resident of this site. You helped me fight 3 cases! 2 settled out of court for zero dollars and one appealed and sited!!! So now many years later I am back! Midland your friend and mine seems to have somehow gotten my cell phone number and have started repeatedly calling me. I got paranoid that maybe my identity was stolen. Checked my reports and I'm good! Clean credit now. So my questions is.... do I answer and speak with them? If they want to speak to me do I inform them to stop calling as I do not owe anybody anything. What do I do? I have heard of folks taking them to court for harassment.

Thanks to all that have some answers. And keep up the good fight... I got your back CACH V. Rodgers!!!

[Clydesmom]

13 minutes ago, MuteDebt said:

So my questions is.... do I answer and speak with them?

If you don't owe anyone then you have very small risk in answering.  

14 minutes ago, MuteDebt said:

If they want to speak to me do I inform them to stop calling as I do not owe anybody anything.

No, you ask them to send any demand for payment in writing as you cannot admit or deny anything without seeing the documentation first.

15 minutes ago, MuteDebt said:

I have heard of folks taking them to court for harassment.

It isn't harassment until you mail them an actual cease and desist (not that "all calls are inconvenient" crap) AND they ignore it and keep calling/contacting you.

16 minutes ago, MuteDebt said:

What do I do?

Answer the phone and find out why they are calling.  If it is for you then get what they are seeking in writing.  Under the FDCPA they have to send a written letter within 5 days of speaking to you.  If/when they send it then you decide what to do.  Time barred debt that can't be reported or sued on?  FOAD letter CMRR back at them.  If it is for a debt that you forgot and still within the SOL for reporting/suing then you have different decisions to make.

If it is NOT for you then you tell them it is the wrong person and ask where to send a cease and desist letter.  Often that is enough for them to update their records the number isn't valid but if they do need the letter just mail it CMRR and that should be the end of it.

[WhoCares1000]

Did you ever give any creditors permission to contact your cell phone number? If not, there might be a TCPA violation there too as congress has not acted on that yet to allow debt collectors to indiscriminately contact people via cell phone.

[MuteDebt]

Hi 

Thank you for your perfect information on what to say and what to do. I will answer and go through the steps!

An,d in terms of my cell phone, no I did not ever give it out. I always use my landline (yes I still have a landline) , so honestly I do not know how they got it!

 

[MuteDebt]

OH and SOL is very very very up on all old debt. My credit report shows no delinquencies!

[fisthardcheese]

This is what I would do (and have done previously when I sued Midland for a very similar case).  Look up the Midland collection dept phone number and call them from your landline (NOT from the phone they are currently calling).  Ask them to check and see if they have any current accounts of yours.  They will ask for info to look you up like your SS number, name, etc.  I would let them check with this information.

If they verify that you have no current account with them, what I would do is start answering those calls.  You don't have to say anything if you want, just wait for a second and then hang up on them.  This will be enough to register the call on your phone bill (easy, solid proof of their TCPA violation).  After a few of those, I might answer and see who they are asking for.  I will let them know they have the wrong phone number.  I would record this conversation if legal in your state.  If they call back again, I would state that I have asked that they not call any more and that they are now harassing me.  I would see if they continue trying to call.  Record any time you talk to them.  Once you've had enough fun, sue them for $500 per documented phone call under TCPA plus an FDCPA and Rosenthal violations for continued calling after you asked them to stop.  Don't forget to add in all of the calls from the very start, even though they may not show up on your phone bill but you can document them with the call log from your cell phone.

[nobk4me]

As for recording, I think California is a two-party state.  Both parties have to know it's being recorded.

[fisthardcheese]

12 hours ago, nobk4me said:

As for recording, I think California is a two-party state.  Both parties have to know it's being recorded.

In that case, I would ask them if they are recording the call.  They may even say up front "this call may be recorded", to which I would respond "thank you", since they just gave you permission.

[cjtx2]

On 5/13/2019 at 10:05 AM, fisthardcheese said:

If they verify that you have no current account with them, what I would do is start answering those calls.  You don't have to say anything if you want, just wait for a second and then hang up on them.  This will be enough to register the call on your phone bill (easy, solid proof of their TCPA violation).  After a few of those, I might answer and see who they are asking for.  I will let them know they have the wrong phone number.  I would record this conversation if legal in your state.  If they call back again, I would state that I have asked that they not call any more and that they are now harassing me.  I would see if they continue trying to call.  Record any time you talk to them.  Once you've had enough fun, sue them for $500 per documented phone call under TCPA plus an FDCPA and Rosenthal violations for continued calling after you asked them to stop.  Don't forget to add in all of the calls from the very start, even though they may not show up on your phone bill but you can document them with the call log from your cell phone.

TCPA has been undermined big time by the decision in ACA International v. FCC

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7140589698627765519&q=aca+international+v+fcc&hl=en&as_sdt=6,44

Basically the FCC made it extremely easy for caller violators to claim they are not using an ATDS. Some courts still use the old FCC orders, where almost any device qualified as an ATDS, but they are the exception and not the rule and a lot of cases now are relying on the above opinion and ruling in favor of robocallers.

[fisthardcheese]

8 hours ago, cjtx2 said:

TCPA has been undermined big time by the decision in ACA International v. FCC

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7140589698627765519&q=aca+international+v+fcc&hl=en&as_sdt=6,44

Basically the FCC made it extremely easy for caller violators to claim they are not using an ATDS. Some courts still use the old FCC orders, where almost any device qualified as an ATDS, but they are the exception and not the rule and a lot of cases now are relying on the above opinion and ruling in favor of robocallers.

Doesn't seem like anything here would apply to these types of calls from Midland.  I'm sure Midland agents are not using iPhones to place their calls.  They are using traditional old school ATDS systems under any conservative definition of the term.