How to Hide From Debt Collection, the Debt Collector, and Creditors
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Writing this article is a bit of a double-edged sword. You see while I think that open communication is always the best way to deal with a debt situation, sometimes people just need to find a way to escape from the pressure just to recover their sanity.
If you are having a difficult problem handling collection calls or dealing with mail from collectors, then you can implement the following steps to get back some peace of mind and stop the din of collection attempts from driving you crazy.
Avoiding the debt collector does not change the reality of your financial situation and like time, it will march on no matter if you want it to or not.
The three major components you’ll need to change will be your telephone, mail delivery, and credit report.
Telephone
Never call a debt collector on a toll-free number or a direct number if you don’t want them to know the number you are calling from.
If you call a toll-free number you will not be able to block the collector from getting your caller information even if you have caller ID block that prevents others from seeing your number. A debt collector my use a local number for you to call that points to a toll-free number and get your calling phone number that way. You would not be able to tell that it went to a toll-free number and reveled your number.
Here is how you deal with that situation:
Purchase two prepaid cell phones from TracFone. There is no contract involved so you are not locked into any contract. Use one phone for family and friends, use the second only for calling banks, credit card companies and debt collectors.
Never call the debt collector or banks from your family and friend TracFone phone. Never. When you can’t deal with the debt collection calls, turn the second phone off to get a brain break.
Whatever you do, do not transfer your old telephone number. You need to break the connection from your old number.
Be sure to either disconnect or unplug your old landline or old cellphones that collectors may have. Now that you have gone mobile, you might consider just canceling your old landline to save money.
If you have neighbors that you are not immediate family and friends but who may have your old telephone number, be sure to update them with your new debt collector line number. Debt collectors may try to hunt you down by calling your neighbors to get your number.
A debt collector will lookup the names and numbers of people living right around you by using your address. They use something called a reverse directory to do that.
Tell friends and family to never give out your new private number to anyone.
Signup with Earth Class Mail and use them for all your mail from this point forward. Earth Class Mail has five street addresses you can use for your mail to be delivered to. You can see all the available addresses if you look under the Personal tab on the site.
You can notify the post office of your new mailing address using this online form.
Debt collectors will get notification of your change of address to your new Earth Class Mail service. Since they will have a new street address for you it will confuse them where you are actually living.
With Earth Class Mail you will be able to see your mail online. When your mail arrives it will be opened and scanned so you can view it when you are ready to deal with it.
For people that are going through tough financial problems and finding themselves disorganized and not wanting to deal with the mail, using Earth Class Mail will allow you to keep copies of all your correspondence online indefinitely.
This is really a critical feature if a creditor is demanding an old statement or notice from you or you get correspondence you need to forward to someone else. When you are using Earth Class Mail you can forward them a copy electronically since it is already scanned and online for you.
I can’t stress enough how great of a feature this is. Even if you are working with a debt management company, the ability for you to forward critical correspondence at the click of a mouse makes it so much easier than hunting down a photocopier and mailing off a copy of a statement or document. Rather than take days to forward information, it will take seconds.
Update Your Credit Report
Creditors and debt collectors use loads of online database information, like credit reports, to chase debtors. Once you get your new mailing address and new creditor phone to use, order this consolidated copy of your credit report (it is the one I like the best) and then using the contact information on the credit report, contact the three main credit bureaus and update your telephone and mailing address with them. This will feed your new information to the creditors and start the hiding process for you. Having a new copy of your credit report will also give you an opportunity to look for any evidence of identify theft and small old accounts that might be past due but not chasing you at the moment.
Not Foolproof, But Really Effective
These three simple steps will not keep you entirely hidden from someone that wanted to spend a lot of time to hunt you down, but it will shield you from 97% of the chatter and grief you are getting right now.
When you have dealt with your situation and are ready to move forward with your life then you can change your information back to where you are now living.
Hiding from the debt collector when you can’t take the pressure anymore is a bit like needing to escape to rehab when your life is spinning out of control.
Use this information wisely and get professional help to deal with the underlying financial problem by talking to a bankruptcy lawyer, considering a debt management program or asking me for free help and advice.
Source: How to Hide From Debt Collection and the Debt Collector
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Comments
Comment by John All right here are some things I did. I knew I had to move. Before I move I got a PO Box in a different nearby city to the place where I’m moving to. I Used my current address that I was currently living. The post office requires an address where you are living when you open up a PO Box. After I had established my PO box at the post office, I moved to my new place. The forwarding address that I used is my PO Box. Now places like the DMV and banks that require my new physical address, I DID NOT GIVE out my PO Box to. This is the reason why have my PO Box is in a different city is to confuse your creditors who maybe looking for me.
This is not full proof, but its been working will with me. I will never again request credit again. My credit is ruins. Even if I did it will give away my where a bouts. If someone wanted to pay a whole lot of money they could find me. However, I owe to a whole a lot of creditors, I don’t owe over a few thousand to a single one. So it won’t be worth for a single creditor to pay a private company to find me.
John Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:05 am
This is the same person who wrote this back in July. So far so good. I even had something file against me that was dismissed for reasons I don’t know why. I found the court paper in my PO Box. My PO Box is coming due but I won’t renew it because I don’t want to give away my current address. All my important stuff like DMV, Bank Records I had changed to my current address without connecting my PO box to. I have a common name and my debt is all credit card debt, no over due taxes. My social security number is not connected to any of my debts. It will come up as a second person with my name if the credit cards companies would do a search on me. They can’t reveal that they are looking for me to the second ID because of disclosure laws.
Comment by richard ok you said i could get earth class mail. what if your mailed social security check can i cash a scanned check?
Steve Rhode Reply:
November 15th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Richard,
I don’t know, you’d have to contact them and ask about current capabilities of check deposits. Why not just ask Social Security to direct deposit your check?
Steve
Comment by Joe These tips are great but I have a question concerning the new credit laws. I am reaping the problems of a creditor taking action two years ago that is now deemed illegal. If they caused me to go to collections then and this came to trial, would it be considered illegal practices? If so then I might stop trying to run from them and just take it to court. About 8 creditors all defaulted my accounts when one went late (by their own fault!) and defaulted me as a result. No one was willing to negotiate or talk things out…just a lot of irate demands for money! Grrrr!!! Any help is appreciated!
Steve Rhode Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Joe,
I suggest you find an attorney to discuss this with. You may want to use the find an attorney section of the National Association of Consumer Advocates site.
Steve
Comment by Linda Even though I know my credit cards are a debt I owe, Im getting bogged down. I was doing fine, then American Express and Master Card lower my credit card limits and raised the interest rate. My credit was very good and I was showing less that the 33%, now it all gone to ………….
Visa has not changed anything, which is amazing, but great.
I’m age 67. Can I file bankrupsty and not file the morgage? My morgage is in Ohio, but I now live in Fl.
Steve Rhode Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Linda,
You have to list all your assets and liabilities. Go talk to a local bankruptcy attorney and they’ll answer all your questions.
Steve
Comment by angelrocks You can also try Magicjack as a way of getting another phone number just to give out creditors and to the credit agencies. You can also make unlimited long distance phone calls to anywhere in the US and Canada. I think it’s going to be much cheaper than getting two cell phones.
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I fell on my feet a couple of years ago and decided to ignore my debt. I am about $30,000 in total debt ranging from credit lines and credit cards. I am a dual citizen of America and another country. My credit accounts were opened with my US social security number. I have one checking account under my different foreign social security number. I have also recently legally changed my name. Is this good enough to escape creditors? Can they seize my current checking account?
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