Recieved this call on May 28th @ 10:28 am no name on caller ID and it was a prerecored mesg. stating I need to call them back for an important mesg. I DIDNOT Call Back!

Universal Fidelity is the latest in a string of collectors (over more than 5 years) to be calling me about money I do not owe.

Someone else with the same first and last names apparently did not pay what he owed a local hospital. I can understand that a collector is going to expect to be lied to... but I'm NOT the person they are looking for.

I've attempted to explain that I'm not the person Fidelity is after, but have refused to give them my SSN and such for fear of what they will pin of my own information to this other person's debt. A former collector actually had my work number attached to the file...

Anyway, the last person I spoke with said that I would have to PROVE I'm not the person they are after before they will stop bothering me... because there is no way for them to know that I'm not just "telling" them that I'm not the person they are after.

I've finally turned it over to an atty to handle because I get so angry when I hear from the collectors that want me to pay for someone else' debt.

Here's the kicker: remember... this merry-go-round of collection agencies has been going on for YEARS... in the last call, the collector mentioned the amount they are trying to collect. It is less than $600.

I'm ready to sue these morons, if only to give my atty the chance to earn some hefty fees at the expense of the collectors...

There have been at least 5 different collectors over the years... not a single one of them has attempted to send a letter to verify the debt... nor even mentioned that such a letter is part of the process under the FDCPA, or 'Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."

Just a follow-up:

I spoke with my atty this afternoon @ this. She told me that she had also been given the same run around that I had been given. I gleaned from my atty's words that although she can legally demand that my telephone number be separated from this other person's file, there is no guarantee that I will not be harassed again in the future.

Even if my phone number is not "part" of the file, these folks believe that they are within their rights to harass me anyway, if they do a new web-search on the name and "happen" to get me as a possible match.

I have no idea how this can be supported by law, but they appear to be getting away with it.

If I hear from these people, or any to whom the un-collectible account of this other person gets handed off to next, I'm going to contact my congress representatives.

I'm all for the belief that people should pay their just debts...I do... but to be harassed over the debts of a total stranger, for YEARS ON END, should not happen.

If something like this happens to you also, report it. Only by documented proof will the system ever be changed