United Bureau Harassing family members Fort Lauderdale Florida
I would like to encourage everyone to report United Bureau, aka United Collection Bureau, Inc to your local government representative regarding calls made to your home regarding collections for another person whom may have lived with you at one time or used your number as an emergency contact.
My 71 year old mother and my deceased father in law (they asked for him on the voice mail. My mother in law is still living.) received calls from UCB regarding a person whom they are trying to collect from regarding a collection account UCB bought from a cable tv company.
When I called for my mother, the man who answered the phone told me it was legal for them to call all relatives, friends and neighbors if a person has them listed. He proceeded to give me a verbal tongue lashing when I told him it is not legal to harass people in the hopes of getting a dollar from anyone who listens and believes the garbage he spews.
First, I want to know how these people obtain their information, and secondly, how can it be legal to call anybody and everybody trying to collect a debt? I don't think it is.
He also told me to "tell XXX (the relative) that they were going to collect the debt." I hung up on him in the middle of his tirade.
I have since reported this to the phone company and to my senator in the state of South Carolina.
I encourage everyone to do this. I have since found out that there are litigations pending against this company.
Miss
Greenville, South Carolina
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Miss
Greenville,South Carolina,
U.S.A.
I am right...still
#3Author of original report
Fri, June 29, 2007
Don:
My relative never lived with any of the people mentioned in the previous post. I don't understand how they got my in-law's phone number. They have absolutely nothing to do with him. This tells me that United Bureau is running background checks on not only the individual in question, but any name that is on the report.
United Bureau rides the line of the law as far as possible, and if people don't contact their government officials, this will continue, and probably get worse.
I completely understand what you mentioned in your post, but like I said before, harassment is harassment, whether it be for collecting a debt or otherwise.
Don
Belleville,Illinois,
U.S.A.
You are right, but for the wrong thing
#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, June 28, 2007
Miss,
You are right that what they did was breaking the law. They are not breaking the law by calling relatives, as I am assuming they are doing that trying to locate the relative in question. They can ask for any new contact information to attempt to locate this person. I am assuming that the relative in question lived with your parents at some point, based on your post. Where they broke the law was advising the wrong parties about the debt. Only the name on the account, their spouse in most states (other than Alabama, Iowa and Massachusetts can a collector not discuss it with your spouse), and any co-maker can get the details on the account. The only other people who be anyone the debtor gave permission to discuss it with. This could be any relative or a lawyer perhaps.