In 1999 I was divorced. I had been separated on and off again about 7 of the 15 years I was married. The end of my marriage was filled some embarrassing events and some things I truly dreaded. A bankruptcy, a divorce, a long term separation and all of the recriminations you can imagine. I’m not some saint or some golden child to say I was innocent. More to the point I admit to being an evil, sadistic, bastard that she likely would call me. Pain is the grist that grinds character or turns us into a character. I got divorced. I got remarried. I’ve been pretty much super happy since.
I tell everybody to try divorce at least once.
I haven’t seen my ex-spouse since she signed the final divorce papers. I have had nearly zero contact with her. The random email shows up telling me I’m an asshole. She friended me on Facebook and I dropped Facebook. After a decade even the random email stopped. I didn’t even write the year of alimony checks. I let the new wife do that. Did you remember I can be an asshole? So lets put this into perspective. I don’t like the ex-wife, I have no desire to shield her, but I have no clue where she is or how to contact her. Why are her creditors calling me?
Earlier this month a creditor started calling about her. About 15 years too late. They called my cell phone, they called my current wife’s cell phone (oh joy joy joy), then they called my under-age children’s cell phone, then my nearly 80 year old father the victim of numerous strokes, and finally they called my mom. Everybody said the same thing. We haven’t seen her in nearly 20 years. No idea where she is. Stop calling. The 15 year old twins were confused.
The creditor refused to identify themselves. They would not give a call back number (but caller ID got them) and they would not give the name of the company. The creditor was nasty and has refused to say where they got the phone numbers from (all of them unlisted). So, they wouldn’t stop. They are going after the wrong people. My answer is I filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The remedy I seek is for the credit collection agency to be fined and pay restitution. Their practice is blatantly illegal and has likely violated at least a few laws.
Remember this isn’t my debt. I did nothing wrong. I have no ability to help the collections people nor do I have any duty to help them. My major mistake was marrying the woman 30 plus years ago. Something I paid for with tears and blood over 15 years of marriage. This is harassment for the sake of harassment and they hide behind a shield of pseudo anonymity by using L3 VOIP services for regional telephone services.
If you get here from Google here is the information. They are using (317) 723-6007 which is L3 VOIP. That makes the phone call look like it is coming from somewhere in Indiana. Here is the rest of the contact information if you need to file your own complaint.
GC Services Limited Partnership
Huntington, West Virginia
(304) 696-2000
Website: gcserv.com
4210 Terrace Ave Huntington, West Virginia 25705-1749
Sam, you may be interested in the results of this court case: http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Unpublished/132358.U.pdf.
TL;DR: Creditors were calling a phone that has a per minute charge and refused to stop calling. End result was ~$2800 per phone call awarded. Not sure if this will translate to your circumstances, but it might be worth reviewing.
Thanks for the link Brian. Long time no see 🙂 I’ll take a look through it. Getting smart on this kind of stuff is becoming important. When you’ve done nothing wrong other than marry the wrong woman it is important to take stuff seriously.