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Debt Collector Harasses Pittsburgh Consumer and Threatens Physical Harm

A Pittsburgh consumer and her husband owned a vehicle obtained through Household Automotive.  The consumer divorced her husband, and he left with the vehicle.  At some point he defaulted on the loan and the car was repossessed.  The car was then auctioned off, and the alleged balance was sold to a debt collector.

In September of 2006, a debt collector placed a call to the consumer regarding the repossessed vehicle.  The debt collector wanted her to pay up on the remaining $5700 balance of the vehicle after it had been sold at auction.  She asked the debt collector for validation or documentation proving that the remaining balance was in fact $5700.  As any consumer would want if asking to give this much money to a debt collector.  Debt collector said NO and actually refused to send any documents.  The ever so nice debt collector then offered to give the consumer a break and offered to settle the debt for $4385  (how generous).  Consumer wanted to speak to her husband and get back to the debt collector at a later time.

As a couple months were going by, the debt collector phone called consumer’s mother-in-law in order to “obtain information on her whereabouts”, which would be legal for the debt collector to do.  However, the debt collector already knew the whereabouts of the consumer, so this call was illegal and unjustifiable.  The debt collector’s sole purpose was to humiliate and embarrass the consumer. 

The debt collector also contacted consumer’s neighbor.  The neighbor walked over to consumer’s home with a telephone number and the debt collector’s name on it.  How embarrassing is that! 

In the next phone call debt collector made to consumer he alleged that the consumer agreed to settle the debt for $4300.  When consumer said that there was no way she agreed to that, the debt collector began yelling at her angrily, “Are you telling me that I’m lying? I’ve talked to you for 12-13 minutes and I already know why your ex-husband left you!”  The debt collector went on yelling “I wouldn’t have left you, I would have killed you”  “How can you care for your children working part-time, you are an unfit mother, who can’t afford to pay her bills!”

Can you imagine!  This debt collector was absolutely crazy.  This consumer went through a lot of emotional distress from these continuous harassing phone calls.  Imagine, being a mother who is being chastised by this debt collector for working part-time to stay home and care for her 2 toddlers.  Having to listen to this debt collector’s foul mouth and going as far as stating he would have killed her.

The debt collector’s abusive threats continued when he said “I’m looking at the title of the car, and unless you plan on moving to Texas or Florida we are going to garnish your wages.”  This was yet another false and deceptive attempt to collect a bad debt.

Needless to say, these harassing phone calls lead the consumer to lose sleep and feel anxious and worried, wondering what the debt collector was going to say or do next!  This is why sometimes it is better to contact an attorney.  It is not only better, but sometimes the only way a consumer can stop the harassing debt collection calls.


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