Mistaken Identity

[Aarookie]

I have been getting calls for approximately 3 years from collections of a person who shares my first and last name but has a different middle initial. I am wondering as to my legal rights because I have politely explained to them many times that I am not him and he is not me. I have never been to college, I spent 9 years in the military and have a great job as a result of that, though I may want to go to school eventually, and this happens to be a university I might like to attend as they offer programs in engineering that would only serve to further the skills I acquired during my service, so part of me does not want to offend. However I have gotten tired of the constant harassment and am considering contacting an attorney. Do I have any rights legally? They want me to verify my social security number by giving it to them, of course with all the phishing scams out there I told them I was not likely to give the number. I have phone records which show hundreds of calls from these agency over the course of this.

[aaron]

Is it a single collection agency calling you, or multiple agencies? Are any of the original creditors calling you, or just collection agencies?

[Aarookie]

It has gone from collection agency to attorney, after I talked with them it's been collection agencies mostly, I have talked to them and they either pass me along to another or call me again themselves. One even called pretending to be his mother, I returned the call because I figured it was plain in-decent for her not to know where her son was. After the initial hello's she tried to lecture me on my responsibilities, at which point I explained to her I was not her son (very suspicious at this point) and asked her to call him and tell him he was in deep trouble. She tried to still play "mom" and I said look mam all due respect I think I know what my own mother sounds like and you missed it by just a little. It dawns on me I probably should have made a trip to radio shack and rigged up a recording device for all of these shenanigans.

[aaron]

You are describing successive contacts for a single debt, or for multiple debts? Please be clear about what is going on.

[Aarookie]

I apologize, it appears to be a single student loan debt.

[aaron]

You can send a letter to any collection agency that contacts you, telling them not to contact you again (example). Who is the original lender, and have you contacted them about this confusion?

[Aarookie]

I'm not sure who the origional debt was to. As I can not provide the last four of his social security number they will not give me that information. I have sent back several letters they have mailed to him, written on the front is "not the address of this person". I have also explained it to the people who call on the phone but they will not listen to the idea that they have the wrong person as I will not give them the last four of my social security number to verify I'm not him. I kind of came here seeking advice about the idea that they have been harassing me for 3 years now and if I get an attourney do I have any kind of case for mental anguish etc...

[aaron]

Have you tried ordering copies of your credit report (see annualcreditreport.com for free copies) to see if they offer any information?

[Aarookie]

We have a credit report program my wife has signed up for, which costs 15 a year or something like that and we can check them at any time. This has not shown up on my credit report as it is under his social security number. I believe I am the recipient of the phone calls because my name was in the phone book in the same metro area as where he attended university. So the only real problem I have is harassing phone calls for someone else's debt