Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

This is my worry. His credit is shot to pieces due to the foreclosure. What can i do to protect myself. Im really nervous

Get a Ring type camera. Make sure you and your family are locking the doors. Just personal safety awareness.

Anonymous wrote:Wont i get a notification if someone tries to open a credit card in my name?
And it looks like its still in his name (or a variation) but my address. What would the advantage be in that?

His address is on the internet so the debt collectors will be able to track him down.

Not unless you have an alert in your credit file or a freeze on your credit, which you should do immediately.

I'd tell a debt collector that no one by that name lives here and that they need to leave immediately and not return.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

This is my worry. His credit is shot to pieces due to the foreclosure. What can i do to protect myself. Im really nervous

Were you a co-signor ? Are you storing or hiding any assets for him ?

Maybe debt collectors come to relatives homes to look for hidden assets such as boats, cars, or just to try to get more info.

Does he owe the IRS ?

No to all of the above. This was not IRS. They dont show up at your door

I know folks who got into financial difficulties with their businesses and I heard that all sorts of creditors--including tax authority agents--showed up unannounced at their businesses--not really sure about their homes, however.

Government agents are different from debt collectors. A debt collector showing up at a siblings home is rare. I'd probably tell them they're trespassing and then call 911 if they didn't immediately leave

Anonymous wrote:When you apply for credit, you usually have to give a relative's name and contact info. That way the collectors can find you if you're not responding. It's called skip tracing. I used to recruit for a credit card collections organization about 25 years ago.

A fair debt collection practices act letter can make you a lot of money if they keep contacting you. I have a friend from law school who occasionally does this when a collector won't believe they have the wrong number or address

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

This is my worry. His credit is shot to pieces due to the foreclosure. What can i do to protect myself. Im really nervous

Were you a co-signor ? Are you storing or hiding any assets for him ?

Maybe debt collectors come to relatives homes to look for hidden assets such as boats, cars, or just to try to get more info.

Does he owe the IRS ?

No to all of the above. This was not IRS. They dont show up at your door

I know folks who got into financial difficulties with their businesses and I heard that all sorts of creditors--including tax authority agents--showed up unannounced at their businesses--not really sure about their homes, however.

Anonymous wrote:Pull your credit score but most likely the collector found you were related and contacted you. I think it’s a tactic collectors use to go after relatives get to the debtor.

This.
Google yourself OP, you will see.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think debt collectors look for relatives and ask for money, don't they? It's not necessarily that your brother pretended to have your address.

They most certainly do not unless it's the kind of debt collector that works for the mob.

I'm sorry to say, but regular debt collectors do this.

Most likely even if he uses your address, it won’t ever be able to affect your credit. If he also knows you SSN, that could be different!

My BIL used our address to get his last license renewal. He’s not homeless. He has his own address. He clearly didn’t want it on his license. Very sketchy! Of course, we had no idea until we started getting some mail for him. It was clearly all bill collections. My DH just kept them in a pile and gave them to him weekly. Eventually he started receiving letters from various attorneys in MD (we live in VA). This has happened for the last year. We had t gotten one in awhile, but we just got a new one yesterday.

Years ago, we also received phone calls for him and the person on the phone did not believe he didn’t live with us. I was waiting for someone sketchy to show up at the door.

Good luck, OP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

This is my worry. His credit is shot to pieces due to the foreclosure. What can i do to protect myself. Im really nervous

Were you a co-signor ? Are you storing or hiding any assets for him ?

Maybe debt collectors come to relatives homes to look for hidden assets such as boats, cars, or just to try to get more info.

Does he owe the IRS ?

No to all of the above. This was not IRS. They dont show up at your door

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

This is my worry. His credit is shot to pieces due to the foreclosure. What can i do to protect myself. Im really nervous

Were you a co-signor ? Are you storing or hiding any assets for him ?

Maybe debt collectors come to relatives homes to look for hidden assets such as boats, cars, or just to try to get more info.

Does he owe the IRS ?

Anonymous wrote:Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

This is my worry. His credit is shot to pieces due to the foreclosure. What can i do to protect myself. Im really nervous

Ummmmm. . . Legit debt collection agencies don’t send people out knocking on doors. What has your brother gotten into?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pull all 3 free credit reports and review them carefully. Then go through the process of freezing your credit at all 4 bureaus.

I know someone whose father destroyed his credit and he didn't find out until he was an adult looking into student loans for college. Didn't want to prosecute his Dad

DP. Can you tell me what the 4 bureaus are? I have 2 locks, but not 4.

There are only 3: Experian, TransUnion, Equifax.

Anonymous wrote:Tell your brother when the next debt collector comes to YOUR home, you will give out HIS address, phone number and anything else they ask for.

Do NOT do this.

Just ask the debt collector why they are contacting you, but do not give out any additional info. about you, your brother, or anyone else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think debt collectors look for relatives and ask for money, don't they? It's not necessarily that your brother pretended to have your address.

They most certainly do not unless it's the kind of debt collector that works for the mob.

My BIL's debt collectors kept calling us for money he owed. The last name is unique, so it wasn't difficult to figure out my DH and his brother were related. The collectors absolutely knew what they were doing, despite the fact they would ask for my BIL by name.