Are you willing to get a new phone number? It's 7 years of calls. If not i recommend answering every time they call and saying "who is un1ty? I keep getting calls for this person." Have a fake name ready. Do that every week for 1 year and they sometimes stop calling until the debt is resold. After 7 years you can rebuild your credit. A secured credit card. Never acknowledge the debt or even speak of it to anyone.
Getting a new phone number doesn't work because collections agencies use a skip tracer called TLO, which uses Transunion's database. One of the best things you can do is buy a burner phone and leave a fake name as your voicemail. When I hear a name that isn't the person I'm looking for, I stop calling it.
It definitely works to get a new phone number but you can't report your phone number to your banks or any credit application- just your friends. It's easier just to keep your current number and convince the creditors it's not you. A burner phone would not work because they already have your old phone number, so the new phone does nothing. The voicemail thing also works if you leave the generic, non-personalized, default but just answer saying you are somebody else. Even if they don't believe you, it stops them from being able to fact find on you. It's just an awkward show down. "Welp, I'm not that person - so have a nice day."
We operate on volume. Saying "I'm not John Smith" will get me to remove your number, but another agency might add it again later.
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