Question:
Dear Steve,
Years ago, I put my number into some sort of website to inquire about student loan forgiveness and to see if I was eligible. It was shortly after Obama announced this plan. I think all I had to pay was $30 a month for 30 years and whatever was left on my loans would be forgiven (as long as I made less than 18K a year. )I decided that was pretty dumb since I could pay off the entire loan and be debt free way before that time mark. I told the people it wasn’t for me, I would rather pay it off myself since it was my debt and therefore my fault. I asked repeatedly to take my number off their list, then finally someone told me there are numerous student loan forgiveness companies out there and they couldn’t block my number for all of them. Flash forward to today, I have placed my number on the do not call list and block numbers as I receive them. Yet I still get anywhere from 1-10 calls a day from numbers about student loan forgiveness and scammers.
How do I get them to stop calling me? I always panic when the phone rings, because I think something is going on with my family, but nope, it’s someone from a student loan forgiveness program or scammer. Will this end once my debt is paid off?
Caitlin
Answer:
Dear Caitlin,
Good luck with that. Once you give your number to one of many debt relief sites you become a target for others to contact. Your contact information can be bought and sold by less than reputable companies who just don’t care about playing by the rules.
If you have not done so already you can register on the National Do Not Call Registry. But that’s not going to stop all the calls you are getting.
AT&T and T-Mobile have free apps for your smartphone that help to block such calls. The AT&T free app is Call Protect and the T-Mobile app is Scam Block. Verizon offers a Caller Name ID app but there is a fee to use that service.
There are other paid call-blocking apps you can use as well.
I’d love to tell you there is some magical solution out there to stop all those unwanted calls, but there just isn’t. I use one of those apps on my phone and it has significantly cut down on unwanted telemarketing calls. So at least they work, even if it’s not 100%.
