Stop Bill Collectors!

As someone in debt, you have more legal rights than you could possibly imagine.  In fact, debt collectors are extremely limited in how they can contact you.  They are also greatly restricted on how they can get money out of you as well. Did you know that debt collectors can’t contact you at work, if you tell them that you aren’t allowed phone calls at work? That’s just one right you have: there are many more.

Your Rights as a Debtor

1. A debt collector may never harass you at any point in time, ever. What is “harassment”? Unethical and unreasonable behavior. Some examples: calling you multiple times a day, or sending you mail with Debt collection agency stamped on the front.
2. A debt collector cannot be deceptive with you under any circumstance (i.e. “You will go to jail if you don’t pay). However, the trouble is with this law is that they can tell you lies like “We’ll send a letter to your boss and ask for a garnishment.” You won’t be able to figure out what is a lie and what isn’t a lie: remember the golden rule when dealing with third party collection agencies: do not talk to them. They are trained professionals who will use any personal information you give them against you to collect money. You have nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by talking to them.
3. If you tell a debt collector not to contact you at work, they may never do it again for any reason. Don’t just tell them this on the phone: send the agency a certified letter, and keep a copy. Even better, send them a cease and desist letter telling them not to contact you at all: including at your workplace.
4. The only other person a debt collector can contact regarding your debt is your spouse and your attorney.
5. A debt collector may never use a false company name in order to try and obtain your debt. Debt collection agencies cannot call you and pretend to be a lawyer, a police officer, or other legal entity.

Though these are the basics, they cover a good amount of practices that are widely recognized as unfair.  These practices are also banned by law by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDPCA). And unfortunately, collection agencies prey on people who are unfamiliar with the law. But fortunately for you, there’s a wealth of information on this website to help you understand what’s legal and what’s not.

But why would a collector become so hell-bent on extracting your debt out of you?  Simple.  Because they work off a commission.  A debt collector gets a percentage of your total debt if they are able to successfully extract it from you. This may be as high as 90 percent of the debt.  That can be a very large sum of money depending upon the amount of debt that you are in. If you don’t give them anything: they don’t earn anything.

The Federal Trade Commission regulates the policies and practices of debt collection in the United States.  They are the oversight for the collectors and agencies in this country.  Unfortunately, many debt collection agencies who harass do not get reported at all or they are reported improperly.  Calling the police on a debt collector may land you with a false report fine and a warning. Report the abusive behavior to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and then sue your harassing debt collectors in court: the easy way. This video shows you how to file a report with the FTC:

If you’re a victim of bill collector harassment, take a minute or two after the phone call to cool yourself down.  Once you feel your emotions are relatively stable, follow the directions in the video above to report the agency to the FTC. If enough people complain: the agency will be investigated and possibly shut down. Then read up on your rights in the FDCPA in Plain English article and if you’ve been wronged: don’t hesitate to consider going to court and winning, the easy way.

Related posts:

1. ID, Please! How to use the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act to Outwit Bill Collectors.
2. Surprising Fact Debt Collectors Won’t Tell You: Your Debt Expires!
3. Debt Collector Harrassment: Craig Cunningham’s Secret Weapon
4. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act FDCPA in Plain English
5. Fun Way to Deal With Debt Collectors: I’m Not John Smith!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 5:37 am and is filed under Debt Collection Law, General Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.