You don't have to let them call you, even if they are representing a company to which you owe money.

You have to give them a valid way to contact you and that can be ONLY your valid mailing address.

Send a letter, certified, return receipt, and tell them that you dispute the debt, that "all calls to all phone numbers are inconvenient" and that you want verification.

If the debt is private, then the government is NOT collecting it, Sallie Mae is. If it's private, then it's subject to the statute of limitations on debt (SOL). Find out what they are in your state; could be as little as a couple of years, up to 10.

If it's out of SOL, then they can try to make you pay, but CANNOT sue you. You can, if out of SOL, send them a letter saying that they MAY NOT contact you at all. Then, if they sue you, they're breaking the law.

Nearly everyone has debt of some sort, and many get behind. Don't get mad, get informed about your rights.

I owe on Sallie Mae loans.  Sallie Mae was going under, so the U.S. Government bailed them out.  Then Sallie Mae went and sold off a bunch of loans to other companies.

So, at this time, I owe on a "Sallie Mae Private Loan" - the company in charge of collecting the debt is "Progressive Financial Services."

I called Sallie Mae and got this number: 866-517-3093...
Progressive Financial Services Agent: 800-715-1350 ( and then some extension )

The BBB link on this thread does not work.  

Their website: http://www.progressivefinancial.com/

When searching the BBB, i found this:

http://www.bbb.org/central-northern-western-a ... ncial-services/

Progressive Financial Services, Inc.
1919 W. Fairmont Drive Bldg. 8 Tempe, AZ 85282 (map)
602-453-8610
http://www.ethicalaz.com/progressivefinancialservices/
BBB Accredited since 1995


BBB Accredited Business since 10/19/1995
Progressive Financial Services, Inc.
Additional Locations

Phone: (602) 453-8610 Fax: (602) 453-8655 1919 W. Fairmont Drive Bldg. 8, Tempe, AZ 85282 customerservice@progressivefinancial.com View Additional Email Addresses http://www.ethicalaz.com/progressivefinancialservices/ View Additional Web Addresses
BBB® Accredited Business Seal
BBB® A+ Rating
On a scale of A+ to F Reason for Rating BBB Ratings System Overview

The companies methods are borderline illegal, yet they have an A+ Rating from the BBB (isn't that some BS lol)

"""Customer Complaints Summary""" (listed on the BBB site)
158 complaints closed with BBB in last 3 years | 78 closed in last 12 months
Complaint Type     Total Closed Complaints
Advertising/Sales Issues     1
Billing/Collection Issues     122
Delivery Issues     0
Guarantee/Warranty Issues     1
Problems with Product/Service     34
Total Closed Complaints     158

"""Customer Reviews Summary Read customer reviews"""
3 Customer Reviews on Progressive Financial Services, Inc.
Customer Experience     Total Customer Reviews
Positive Experience     0
Neutral Experience     0
Negative Experience     3
Total Customer Reviews     3

ONLY 3 Review (and although ALL negative) - Still ONLY 3 reviews.  Report these people if they are rude, threatening, ask for information they should not be asking for, if you ask to be removed and they don't remove you, etc.

I connected Sallie Mae directly and they directed me to this company stating, "my loans are in collection and are being handled by 'Progressive Financial Services' "

The company seems to be legitimate, but the people working there and the methods employed by the company are atrocious at best.

Hope this helps you figure it out.

Also, ALWAYS call the original company you had the loan with, get Progressive Financial Services to U.S. Mail you proof of the debt and their intentions to collect, and have EVERYTHING in written form mailed to you as proof.

Good Luck.

These people have called my wife demanding money, and have done so calling her by her maiden name. We keep track of all the money we spend and know how much we owe, and Progressive Financial Services is not on our list of people we owe. They are not a real collection agency. They are a scam. Don't give them your hard earned money!

This is obviously a debt collection agency of some sort. They repeatly ask for someone that I do not know personally but that is associated with someone in the distant past. My name and number is in no way affiliated with them however. The people calling are all foriegn speaking and though they claim to understand what you are telling them, cannot seem to comprehend that you want them to stop calling and remove the number from their call list. They even go so far as to call you ignorant when you get upset with them. I am tired of these calls I wish someone would make it illegal to get calls like these because they can't be deemed harrasment because they do not use curse words or make physical threats. It is still harrasment. This is my phone, at my place of business, that I pay the bill for and I have the right to say who calls especialy when they don't know who they are calling. What has the U.S. come to when the only paying jobs are held by foriegners that are incomprehensive of the English meaning of our language and should not be harrasing people to begin with. Take our country back and send the foriegners home and keep our jobs in the United states to help our economy can recover.

I received a phone call yesterday from Progressive Financial Services. They were attempting to collect a debt from an outstanding parking sitation issued back in 2007. The woman I spoke to was very abrasive. I told her I wanted a copy of the debt in writing mailed to me before I made any sort of payments. The representative was hesitant with my request but finally agreed to mail a copy of the debt to me. After I ended the phone call, I decided to call back just to make sure this was a legitimate business. When I called back, the next representative answered the phone "Progressive Financial Services, can I start with your social security number." I found that to be highly unusual, so I ended the phone call and decided to do a little research online about the company. I found numerous websites including this one where people have indicated this as a scam. At this point, I was ready to just ignore any future calls from this company, but I decided I wasn't fully satisfied with my findings online.

There was only one way I could figure would be the best way to verify this debt. I contacted the Municipal Court where the ticket was originally issued to gather information. The clerk at the city court was able to verify that the debt was sold off to a 3rd party collection agency by the name of "Progressive Financial Services"

While their practices may be questionable, they are a valid collection agency attempting to collect on a debt owed. Instead of handling it with them, I was also given the option by the city clerk to pay the courts directly. So, that is what I am doing just to be on the safe side.


***** Important Note *****
If you ever question the validity of a debt , try contacting the originating creditor or entity. They may be able to help track down the debt and let you know what 3rd party the debt was sold to.


Best of luck to all.

I have been getting calls from this phone number for the last 3 months.  When I answer they hang up on me.  I call the number back and am told the name of the company and told to enter my account number.  Being I have never done business with this company this is harassment.  Can you please have them stop calling as I am on the Do Not Call list and have been for a long time.

I answered and actually spoke with a couple people. I settled my debt with them. Now they are calling and sending letters for the remainder of the amount, after we settled on a lesser amount. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Crap like this makes people go postal.

They call every other day for the last several months. The first thing they ask when they pick up is for your social security number. If you say no, they hang up on you. I called back and said I had a question. She said okay. I asked if they would like to have a harassment charge filed on them, as well as shut down their scamming business. She asked for the number I was calling about and said she would take me off the list. (Collectors do not ask for social security numbers, nor do they take you off a "call list"). We'll see if they continue to harrass me. My guess is yes. They are looking for victims...don't be one.

They also call from 800-761-7045

I have gotten calls from this number many times a day over the past few weeks, everyday! My called ID says 800 Services. I never answered it till one night they called me at 9pm in the evening! I answered and it had a british sounding automated recording that was asking me to stay on the line, or press 1 or something, alot of odd pauses then it just hung up as I said Hello repeatedly.  I started to google about this number and I found this site. I called them back, and got a guy on the phone...I told him to stop calling...I know what your company is, Im googling your number as we speak and that I didnt appreciate them calling me at 9pm. (I stayed polite throughout)  He replied back to me, 9pm??...But your in California?? I was like...Nooo.....? (wtf) He asked me if i was sure and told me my area code I was calling from was in California. I just said no. Then he asked me if i knew a Melissa Garcia and i replied No. I think these folks are phishing for info...Im glad I just responded a simple No and didnt volunteer any more info to them. He appoligised to me and said he'd mark me down to not call me anymore. He was very nice but just a bit odd asking me about Cali.  I hope hes right!   Anything else happens I'll post it here....Thanks all and beware!

Hi angry man,
There is something you can do about this. You have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act so therefore there are rules to collecting a debt from you. First thing you should do is answer their call and respond politely to the accusation and if the person is rude to you inform them that you will be responding to them in a letter and that you will also be filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about their behavior.Those people don't know what happened in order to put you in debt, not all people are dead beats; we are sometimes just people who are just a victim of life and life happens everyday. Don't get discouraged because, just like they fell like debtors have to answer to them; they have to answer to someone too.

Multiple calls from dialing machine for a person on longer having this number. company rude and abusive when i call to stop it.

This number is for Progressive Finincal Services..not associated with the insurance company (however a nice name play to get some credibility)  Its not a scam..just a fugging collection company.  In my case its for a Sally Mae loan they bought out, and are now trying to collect.  Your screwed if you pick up and respond (since they know the number works now regardless if its your loan or not).  And if you don't answer, they just keep calling.  I suggest blocking all Unknown and numbers that are associated with them (such as this one)  Too bad T-mobile sucks and doesn't allow call blocking of unknown numbers.  Thanks also to my fukkin ex-piece-of-a** that I co-signed on this loan for.  Least I bent the bi_tch over more than a few times (literally at least heh)

every time you call me I am going to post it here.

STOP CALLING ME!!! I am on my way to Phoenix now to take care of you.

These people need to be taught a lesson.  Everyone spread the word this is a SCAM!

Do NOT engage with this scam. Ignore them and they will eventually go away.  They are like email spam.  Delete them.

Recorded message - no chance to advise that they are contacting a business.  No chance to ask questions, or idicate in any way that the wrong person(s) have been called.  Have not been successful in returning phone calls to number.  Line is dropped as soon as it rings.

Voicemail starts this is not a sales call. Then there is a long pause. At end of long pause an 866-484-0211 number is given to call back. The call shows up as UNKNOWN and not traceable

I am getting a bunch of calls from this number as well and they keep asking me if I am someone who used to have this number.  I know it is someone previously because other friends and family of his have called as well.  

Anyhow, I have informed the people at 866-484-0211 that this man no longer has this number, and they said that they would have my number removed.  Well, you guessed it.  They are calling now two and three times a day asking for other people as well.  ?????

I simply called Cox and they set up my account to be able to block calls for $2.00 a month.  Then they told me how to block phone calls –
Pick up phone and simply press *60  
Afterwards press the # key to activate
Then enter the phone number to block.
(Up to 31 Phone Numbers are able to be blocked.)

So I believe that you will have to simply pay approx. $2.00 a month like I did.  Good luck, and God bless all of you!!!

RED ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  just recently for a couple of weeks now we have been getting calls from this number asking for my husband.  i thought their was something wrong with our account but turns out that this number is not apart of our account.  this company is a scam. i think they are trying to just get some personal information to try to screw  identities.  they call 2-3 times a day.  This number is not associated with Progressive Insurance for Motor Vehicles.

They were calling me 2 times a day.  I have told them I am not the person they originally asked for.  When they continued to call I told them to get fu**ed.  Now they are calling 6 times a day.  what can i do?

They're hitting me also.  The recording indicates that the call is for...and then nothing.  But then recording starts again and says that by not responding I've confirmed that I'm the person they're looking for.  What kind of crazy logic is that?  I'm reluctant to call the phone number that was left until I'm sure it isn't a pay-per-call line or some other kind of scam.

I've gotten a call from these idiots just about every other day for the last 3-4 weeks.  I'm on the verge of calling and demanding to speak to manager after manager until I run out of expletives.  After reading some of these comments, it seems that will get me no where.  This is blatant harrassment.  They claim they are a debt collector, yet use a non-existent name (my first name + my wife's last name).  I'll be reporting these people to as many agencies as I can find online tonight.  I'll start with the Attorney General's office.

We have ways of making u NOT call us.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8664840211#p4c6gTcuBxAC96AjMJ9BEtg

I am getting a bunch of calls from this number as well and they keep asking me if I am someone who used to have this number.  I know it is someone previously because other friends and family of his have called as well.  

Anyhow, I have informed the people at 866-484-0211 that this man no longer has this number, and they said that they would have my number removed.  Well, you guessed it.  They are calling now two and three times a day asking for other people as well.  ?????

I simply called Cox and they set up my account to be able to block calls for $2.00 a month.  Then they told me how to block phone calls ?
Pick up phone and simply press *60  
Afterwards press the # key to activate
Then enter the phone number to block.
(Up to 31 Phone Numbers are able to be blocked.)

So I believe that you will have to simply pay approx. $2.00 a month like I did.  Good luck, and God bless all of you!!!

my girlfriend has been getting calls from this number, too, so i decided to look a little further into the company.  it seems that the company is a true debt collector but i'm not sure how they go after people.  i even looked on the Better Business Bureau's website and found this info:  http://data.phoenix.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=3007179

not playing devil's advocate but it seems like they are a legit company.  hope this helps some of you.