Do the Americans have an equivalent service of the UK’s Telephone Preference System (TPS)?

[La Diva]

Don’t know where to post this item, so if you think it needs moving to somewhere else, please do so!

An elderly relative in New York is being pestered by a various debt collection companies who are chasing the previous tenant.

So is there anywhere in the USA she could contact to stop them calling her about 20 times a day? She tells me she's fed up explaining to the debt collection services but is slowly giving up on her answering her phone...and that's the bit that worries me!

Thanks in advance.

[ChuckFickens]

https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

Also in some states it is a legal requirement for the caller to hang up if you say "no" 3 times, so as soon as you realise it's a cold call just say "no no no" and they have to hang up.

[daffy654]

Can she not just change the phone number?
How come she even has the same phone number as the previous tenant?

[Greedyfly]

https://www.the-dma.org/cgi/offtelephonedave

It may be worth just getting her number changed though. It would seem a lot of the American services charge for this service.

[squarebear]

Do you get a new phone number when you move house? We tend to use the house phone of the house we move into.

[ChuckFickens]

Oh I've just read the full question...

She is not being cold called or tele-marketed then, as daffy says she need to prove to the debt collection agency that it is not her they are chasing. the best people to ask how to do this is going to be the agency themselves.

[Greedyfly]

I always change my number when ever I move (which is unfortunately a lot). And also sign up to the TPS service, although this time round it doesn't seem to have made much a difference.

[Clanad]

Here, in a nutshell, is the relative's problem. Here in the U.S., it's usual to carry your existing phone number with you when you move. However, the collection agency has her residence listed as the last known residence of the people they're actually trying to contact. The number for the residence can be determined through a look-up system. Simple solution and probably cheaper than the land line she now has is to cancel that service and get a cellular phone. Many people, even without her problem, no longer have land lines, only cell phones...

[La Diva]

Thanks clanad and chuckfickens.

She's 84yo so I don't think she'd even consider getting a cell phone (and it would cost me a fortune to call her each week!). Hope I can register on the site chuckfickens gave on her behalf.

Thanks to all of you.

[whiskeryron]

La Diva, give her the option of the cell 'phone solution, don't assume that because she is 84 she can't handle it, Im 85 & recently changed my mobile for a screen touch 'phone & am coping very well indeed. Ron.