Predator computer-generated calls must be stopped

"Heather" from Account Services called again this morning over my Qwest land line. "Heather" is a recorded "voice" for computer-generated credit card refinancing calls to residences. "Heather" rings daily at around 8:30 in the morning. "Simone" from Client Services calls at about 11:30.

Turning off "Heather" and "Simone" is noxious work.

The "operator" for Account Services is never the same voice. I begged, asked politely, asked rudely, and asked vulgarly to have my phone number removed from their calling list. I was told that operators can do nothing because the computer makes the calls. The answering operator claimed to work for "Services" not "Account Services."

Between my caller identification device and managing to elicit some information from one of the operators, who was trying to get me to calm down, the number for the "want lower debt" telephone identification is out of the great city of Miami, Fla.

So the work begins.

In the past I had to deal with a debt collection company. Those operators called my house every Saturday morning from Houston, Texas, trying to collect on a debt I never made. They would not transfer their call to anyone with the debt facts. I was instructed to call a "counselor" in Florida. The company headquarters were in Denver, Colorado. No single state's financial laws applied completely to this company. I complained to the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions (ADFI), the financial institutions agencies in Florida, Texas and Colorado. The Texas financial ombudsman told me how to use the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act on my own to stop the calls. No one else would (see www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf ).

In "Heather's" case the federal debt collection law did not provide refuge. Arizona's Department of Financial Institutions is a useless resource for consumers fending off financial companies making unsolicited phone calls. Its consumer assistance on unsolicited financial calls is as broken as their help during the unfair credit card rate increases and the ongoing mortgage home loan fiasco. Have you seen them involved in the Payday Loan issue? ADFI's mission is to promote financial institution business (www.azdfi.gov). A legislative audit of the department's real world help for consumers is long overdue.

As for "Heather" and "Simone," I filed a complaint against "Account Services" online at with the Federal Communications Commission, http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm.

Telephone solicitation companies generate computer calls without a verifiable automated feature to remove all future solicitation calls for federal "do not call" compliance. Their operators should just say "yes" to a phone list removal request or provide information for an FCC complaint.

Ugly predators like "Heather" and "Simone" are gutting America financially and believe that you will not report them and, like ADFI, that government will not help. Report these predators and report them often. Check scam alerts on the Arizona Attorney General's Web site, www.azag.gov/scams.html. Use the laws and Web sites for the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission for help.

Mike Durham retired after 31 years with the state of Arizona and holds two master's degrees. Last year he was appointed to the Cold Case Task Force by Senate President Tim Bee. Durham has lived in Ahwatukee Foothills since 1982 and can be contacted at mike.durham@durhammike.com.