PSA: Do your research before telling a debt collector ANYTHING

I'm an attorney and I handle debt collections on occasion. Nothing in this post is legal advice and shouldn't be construed as such. A debt collector doesn't necessarily "own" a debt. In fact, my law office doesn't "own" any of the debts it collects on, and it's not required to by law, nor is that even normal. Furthermore, collecting debts doesn't necessarily make anyone a "low life," a "scumbag" or a "bottom feeder." This is an important part of how contractual obligations are enforced and any general practice law office will handle collections. I frequently collect on overdrawn checking accounts for a local bank. To explain what I mean about how we don't own the debts, that's because we aren't buying the debts at a fraction of their value to then try to collect the full amount, but instead I am typically collecting on contingency for my clients. I will typically take a cut of whatever I collect, although sometimes these are done on an hourly billing basis. I don't "own" any of the debts I collect, and that's not required, and I would say it's not even normal in my state for a law office to buy debts that it collects on. Furthermore, there is nothing inherently wrong or that makes one a "low life" in collecting on a debt like that. If you overdraw your checking account, and refuse to pay to bring it up to a zero balance, it's not the bank's fault. But then again my law office is collecting for local clients that we know personally. There's a lot of misinformation in general in this thread. The thing is, I would, first, very seldom call a debtor to begin with, and usually only if they called me first wanting to set up a payment plan or something. I would especially never call someone then offer to send a verification of debt unless the person asked for it--why do that when it's not required by law (that is, unless it's actually requested first)? It just makes more work for me. If someone owes my client a debt, I'd just send the required 30 day letter if it's a consumer debt, then get judgment at a hearing, then get a hearing in aid of execution (a/k/a a debtor's examination, or similar terminology in some states) to garnish their paycheck or execute on their property. The only reason to me that someone would ask for an address to send a verification of debt is if the debtor asked for it, which occurs once in a blue moon (but, by the way, for those in this thread who think that's the ticket out of paying a debt you owe--that's not the magic bullet everyone in this thread seems to think it is. I have all of the paperwork to send verification for every debt I collect) or, and this is what is probably happening in this post, is that the debt collector wanted the person's address in order to serve service of process and a court summons. I think that's what's really going on here.

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