Debt Collector

[indago]

A Missouri jury ordered a debt buyer to pay nearly $83 million to a Kansas City woman it pursued for a $1,000 credit card bill she didn't owe...


$250,000 damages, and $82,990,000 "malicious prosecution".


article (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/woman-sues-debt-collector-wins-103051927.html)

[jimnyc]

Damn!! But that company has a horrible track record of harassing people, so I'm unsure I care about them... but I don't think this sticks on appeal. Sure sends a helluva message though!

[NightTrain]

Bottom feeders.

When I got divorced, one of the big fights in court was about $50,000 in credit card & loans that the wife had racked up without my knowledge - I was gone quite a bit working remotely, and she had power of attorney for whatever needed to be dealt with while I was gone.

So she signed up for cards left and right, maxed them out and defaulted. Same with loans with banks I'd never even heard of before... it was nightmarish trying to figure out who all these people were. I was making very good money and she could have paid cash for everything... but I think there was a Cocaine factor involved - it's the only thing that explains that.

The Judge awarded her all the debt she racked up. The collections people were calling from literally all over the country trying to squeeze me, and I kept telling them that the debt was legally hers. Naturally, they weren't getting any money from her, so they kept returning to me.

I'd be damned if I gave them one red cent and I told them so. Almost all of them even went so far as to say it didn't matter what the Judge said - and I stopped them there and asked them if their word trumped a Superior Court Judge. That's when they got real nervous and wouldn't answer that question. That still didn't stop their calls.

Finally I told them they weren't allowed to call me anymore. That was the only thing that worked - explaining that I didn't owe them anything and why it legally wasn't my debt didn't do it, because they don't care who gives them money.

I haven't had a call from those scumbags ever since. All the threats of credit damage and lawsuits somehow never materialized!