Dear Senator Warren: I Am Not Patrick Callis

25 May 2019


The Honorable Elizabeth Warren
United States Senate
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Warren:

I write to you not because you are my Senator but because of your passionate championing of the rights of consumers in their dealings with financial and credit institutions. On May 7th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced proposed rulemaking for the implementation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I’d like to speak to a particular aspect of protections for citizens/consumers borne of my own recent experience.

We know that consumers who are struggling with debt are due reasonable protections from the predatory or harassing actions of debt-holders and collection agents. We also know that victims of identity theft deserve a separate set of protections from the actions of debt collectors. I find myself in a third category that seems quite distinct from those two kinds of consumers: someone using medical services in Texas gave my home address to the service providers. He didn’t represent himself as me; he did not use my social security number; he did not use my phone number. He simply gave them a false address. He represented himself as “Patrick Callis,” which might in fact be his true name.

As one might expect, I began receiving at my home address, but with Patrick Callis’s name, what appeared to be billing notices from two different hospitals in the UTHealth – East Texas network (Tyler and Quitman), from the UTHealth – East Texas EMS, and from Tyler Radiology Associates, P.A. On the first of those, I wrote in thick Sharpie pen: “NO SUCH PERSON AT THIS ADDRESS” and “RETURN TO SENDER.” I did so on the second billing notice from each of these entities. I did so on the third, perhaps the fourth, likely even a fifth billing letter.

It was not long before I began receiving mail for “Patrick Callis” at my home address from CMRE Financial Services of Brea, California. On the first of those, I wrote in thick Sharpie pen: “NO SUCH PERSON AT THIS ADDRESS” and “RETURN TO SENDER.” I did so on the second collection notice from CMRE. I did so on a third and a fourth. I reported it to my mail carrier so that he could enter it as a bad address in the United States Postal Service address system.

Just this week, two more pieces of mail addressed to Patrick Callis, this time with only an address in Oaks, Pennsylvania, have also arrived at my house and, by all indications, are from a different collection agency.

In the meantime, on my home telephone, I have answered two recorded calls from CMRE Financial Services. The recording states that it is intended only for Patrick Callis and that, if I am not Patrick Callis, I should hang up. So I promptly hung up. Both times. Following that, I also received two recording machine messages from CMRE Financial Services on my home telephone, intended for this Patrick Callis who falsely claimed my home address as his own. I suspect, but have not reviewed call logs to confirm, that other attempts to contact Patrick Callis using my home phone number have occurred at times that I was not able to answer and for which there is no recorded message in voicemail.

I bought my house in 2003 and have lived here continuously since that time. I have never knowingly met Patrick Callis and I can assure you that, if he ever lived at this address, it was over 15 years ago. I will say without hesitation, though, that he has never had my telephone number. And yet CMRE Financial Services has repeatedly called a number that never belonged to Patrick Callis. I don’t think that is right.

When we get into the dirty details necessary to the crafting of rules and regulations governing the activities of debt collectors and ensuring protections for consumers, I strongly urge that the rules make clear that the actions of debt collectors toward debtors should never be confused with any actions taken by debt collectors regarding citizens/consumers who are not in debt to them. That rules should make clear that debt collectors are subject to fines and enforcement if they repeatedly contact individuals who are not the ones who owe debts that are the subject of the collection efforts.

To my chagrin, I found that my own efforts to clear my address from the targeted sights of these medical providers have been futile. Even though I returned their bills promptly and clearly stated that no such person as “Patrick Callis” resided at my address, the records were not corrected and my address was turned over to, and is now being targeted by, the collection agencies tasked with following up on the debts incurred by Patrick Callis. Even worse, the debt collection agency connected my personal phone number to Patrick Callis and has made repeated attempts to contact him by calling me. When I saw in the proposed rulemaking that debt collectors could make up to seven calls a week to “consumers,” I cringed because it did not make a distinction between actual debtors and, for instance, mistaken or incorrect addresses. Once I informed each of these entities that their patient/service recipient had provided them with a demonstrably false address, I should never have been contacted again. The debt collection agencies should be afforded no rights or protections to harass individuals who are not carrying the debt they are trying to collect.

Just this week, I wrote more formal letters to the four Texas medical providers and two different collection agencies to once more inform them that no such person as Patrick Callis resides at my home address. I have little confidence, however, that doing so will provide me with relief from the continued harassment. Instead, I think strong and clear rulemaking must occur, informed by the need to protect debtors, victims of identity theft, but also simple victims of false contact information like me.

I hope that you will use the power of your position and the avenues available to you in the United States Senate to help provide cover and protection for individuals such as myself. I’m grateful for your time, for your incredibly valuable service, and especially for the tremendous impact you have made—and are making—on behalf of consumers.

Sincerely,
Raymond C. Jones