What should I do about this debt collector?

Question

My parents are divorced, and my father who lives on the other side of the country is incurring debt. A collection agency continues to send mail to my mother and I's address, despite us sending an envelope back with "Wrong addressee, return to sender" written with sharpie on it.

Update:

The letter has my dad's name on it, but my address despite the fact that he never lived here.

Update 2:

Yes, we also provided my dad's address.

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

Many debt collection agencies are unscrupulous in their proceedings and constantly employ any method possible, including trying to collect from family members. We still get similar correspondence regarding my brother-in-law who has been deceased for 3 years. One thing to thoroughly understand is that neither you or your Mother is responsible for anything that he charges. You can simply throw those letters in the trash. The one single exception would be for any joint purchase they made while they were married. And, even those generally have time restrictions. Quite often a firm will purchase old debt for a few pennies on the dollar and earnestly try to collect it. If they are successful, they thrive financially. I'd recommend you sleep well tonight and not worry about it at all.

Answer 2

put letter in another envelope

 add letter stating that the addressee does not live there and never has

THEN add that cos they persist in ignoring this- you will invoice them $100 for every time you have to respond to further letters from them

Date and keep a copy of the letter

then do it

Answer 3

You can ignore the debt collectors. They can't collect from your mom or you. It sometimes does no good at all to tell them this--many collection agencies buy up old debt and old addresses and don't care who they harass. You've done everything you can, but the mail will probably still come your way. Just collect it and give it back to the post office when you get a bunch. Ask them about blocking mail addressed to your dad. 

Answer 4

An "addressee" is a person.  If the name of the person is right, then it's not a wrong addressee.

What you should be writing is "wrong address".

Answer 5

It doesn't really concern you if it isn't your debt.

Answer 6

Throw it away of course.

Answer 7

Just keep returning them as you have been doing. Its not that hard. I worked in collections way back when and if we got returned mail we quit sending stuff there.

Answer 8

Ignore it, you owe them nothing.

Answer 9

Is the letter addressed to your mom?

If your mom & dad were married at the time the debt was incurred, your mom may have a legal obligation to pay.

If you want them to stop sending mail to your mom's house, then you provide dad's address.

Answer 10

Contact them.  If you open one of the letters you'll find an phone number and maybe even an email address inside, use them.