Several debt collectors have me confused with my father, and hound me repeatedly because we have the same name.

by Joe
(Florida)

My father lost his house to foreclosure about 2 years ago. He also accrued a lot of debt on credit cards, utilities, cell phone, and medical bills. I can understand the confusion at first for the debt collection company and know they are just attempting to do their job. It really becomes annoying after the 3rd and 4th time explaining this to them, while they speak to me like I am trash.

About 6 months ago I was contacted by a law office out of Delray Beach,FL Gill D&F, via a process server. Since I have the same name as my father, and they were at the door step of the home that I own, I figured the documents were for me. I signed and accepted them, and before the process server could leave I stopped him to let him know he served the wrong person. Gill D&F is a 3rd party collection company for Suntrust Bank. Suntrust is the bank that foreclosed on my father, and also the same bank that holds the note on my mortgage. I contacted Suntrust to ask in their assistance in straightening this matter out.

They did their due diligence and although it took a while, the matter was laid to rest to my satisfaction. I received a notice from the court that I did not have to appear now.

Last week the same process server came by with specific instructions to look for my fathers make and model vehicle in the driveway, and then to serve me again. I did not accept the docs this time, and I gave him a copy of the courts dismissal of the last paperwork he had dropped off.

Today I get another call from their office asking me how do I want to handle this matter.

I am a real estate agent and need to maintain a positive image in my neighborhood. I can not have process servers coming by and making a show of paper work that is not mine. I also am to busy to keep trying to straighten each of these debt collectors out. Do you have any advice?

Reply from DebtCollectionAnswers.com:

Please contact a consumer law attorney. This is sloppy and may be illegal. A consumer law attorney may be willing to take your case on a contingent fee basis since the other firm may be forced to pay your attorney's fees if you win.

You can talk with a consumer law attorney with experience in debt collection cases. Learn how to get low cost or FREE legal help with your debt collection problem here. There is no fee unless you recover.

Unfortunately, sometimes it comes down to this. There is no excuse for law firms to keep coming after you for this debt after you've demonstrated they have the wrong person.