Estate Information Services They tried to scare me into paying my dead brother's debts Columbus Ohio

You probably work for them which explains why you are so defensive of them and their unethical practices.

 They were hostile with us on the phone.  They talked loudly and talked over us in a very rude manner.  And yes, these phone calls came in even AFTER they received a letter from us telling them that we wanted them to CEASE AND DESIST FROM ANY COMMUNICATION WITH US.  That right there was a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 

 We started recording their phone calls to us, and then played the recordings back to them while they were on the phone with us, letting them know they were being recorded and that we were going to file a complaint against them with the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions (part of the Arizona Attorney General's Office which deals with debt collectors and regulates them).  That is when they stopped calling us.

 Debt collectors routinely violate the law in order to get paid, but they are afraid of being tape recorded because they know it can them come back to bite them in the a$$.

(((REDACTED)))

Good luck with you're backwards thinking.  Most of us don't care weather you are acting within the law. It' still doesn't make it right.  The bank that entered into a contract with the diseased takes a risk when they loan money to someone. They are insured for loss not to mention most banks make very hansom profits.  The bottom line is that most people are not going to be welcoming calls from a collection agency when they had nothing to do with the debt. So, weather it is legal or not all you collection agencies can screw yourselves.

Yes, they were rude and hostile to us on the phone.

No, they never informed us that we did not have to pay the debts of our dead relative.  In fact they made it sound like we had better pay them immediately or they were going to file a lawsuit against us.

And yes, they DID VIOLATE THE F.D.C.P.A. by continuing to call us even after they had received a letter from us telling them to CEASE AND DESIST FROM ANY COMMUNICATION WITH US BECAUSE WE REFUSED TO PAY OUR DEAD RELATIVE'S DEBTS.

The only thing that seemed to stop them from calling us on the phone was when we made it clear that we were tape recording their phone calls.  They fear being tape recorded because they know they are going to violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and they fear someone recording their unlawful behavior on the phone.

So, if you get a call from them, send them a cease and desist communications letter right away, and then start tape recording them, and play the tape back for them to hear, so they know they are being tape recorded.  That's the only thing that scares these vultures away.

By the way, our relative died back in 2008, and we never paid these vultures a penny.  And they never sued us.  So, don't be scared of them.  They're all bluffing.  They just want to bully you and scare you into voluntarily paying them.

I received a call just 1 hour ago.  They called my cell phone and my direct phone number where I work.  They were looking for the person who handles my father in laws estate.  I asked who was asking and she gave me the company name from whom she was with.  I told her she was calling my work number and that there wasn't an estate.  She gave me her condolences and hung up on me. 

I called back the number that showed up on caller ID and explained what happened to the person who answered.  She apologized and transfered me back to the person who hung up on me.  I asked what this was in regards to and she said she could not give any personal information to protecte my deceased father in law's privacy.  I told her I know more about his personal information than she did but she still would not discuss anything until I confirmed if I was handling his affairs (notice the wording change there?).  I told her that me and my husband have already handled everything and sent out his death certificate to every company that needed it.  She still would not discuss anything. 

I decided to look up the company and found several reports stating they are a scam company looking for information on the deceased and or the families.  My father in law had no other dept on his credit report other than what we already knew about.  Those are the places we personally contacted and sent them the reqeusted information so they could no longer collect any monies owed by my father in law. 

I saw that they called my cell phone as well so I called my husband asking if he received a call from them and explained what the conversation was.  He checked his cell phone and saw that they did call him in Sept 2013 but didn't recognize the number so he didn't answer.  He doesn't remember getting a voicemail.

I have trouble believing the calls received were hostile.   Yes, they may have been less than informative but then, if the person they are talking to isn't the person handling things, they aren't allowed to give out any info.  LIke any collection agency, the first thing this company does is try to find out who they can talk to about the debt.  If someone were to step up & say they are handling things, they would have been informed what the call was about & that they are NOT liable for this debt. 

Only the estate is liable but, if there is no estate or no funds left in it, they can ask if the family is willing to make VOLUNTARY payments toward the debt.  Key word here, voluntary.  If you can't deal with a simple business call, let someone else handle it & stop being childish.  By the way, the violation of the FDCPA you are claiming would only have occurred if they didn't have someone say they are handling things before they gave information about the account.  It is perfectly legal to call numerous people in the family to find out who is handling things.