No one ever plans on getting into debt. And certainly, no one ever plans to have to deal with debt collections.
Being hounded by debt collectors night and day is enough to get anyone down! The good news is that there are laws in place that will help you save your sanity! The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed in 1977. This Act protects consumers from collector abuses.
The key is understanding your rights when it comes to debt collections.
Debt collectors may only contact you between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm. Also, if you tell them to not contact you at work, they may not do so again.
Also, debt collectors may not contact your family or friends except to try to obtain your contact information. They may not tell them that they are attempting to collect a debt. They also many only contact family and friends once.
If you receive notification of a debt in writing, and dispute with the collector the validity of the debt in writing, the collector may not contact you again for 30 days.
Here is a list of other thinks collectors can not do:
• They may not harass or intimidate you in any way
• They may not state or imply that they are a government representative
• Tell you that you will be arrested if you fail to pay your debt
• Falsely state that you have broken the law
• Report things they know not to be true to the credit bureaus
So, what can you do if you can’t pay, but your phone is ringing off the hook? Is there a way to avoid the harassing collection calls?
Yes! You need to get the address of the collection agency that is in charge of debt collections for your account. This can be tricky sometimes because collectors will try to avoid giving this to you. Don’t give up! Ask to speak to a supervisor or tell them you want the address to send a payment in. Whatever it takes!
Then, write the collection agency a letter. Tell them to stop contacting you by phone. If it is a collection agency and not the original lender, tell them that you did not borrow money from them and will only deal with the original lender. Make sure you send this certified mail!
Once they have received your letter, they may only contact you to let you know they are taking a specific action. (An example of this is filing suit.)
Most of the time, you account will be returned to the original lender. The reason for this is that collection agencies are paid only on commission when they collect. If they don’t think they can collect on your account they usually will not waste their time!
It is important to note that just because they can not call you, does not mean that the debt is going away or that you don’t owe the money. This is just a great strategy to save your sanity until you can get back on your feet a bit!
Knowing your rights with regards to debt collections is key to maintaining your sanity and working your way back from financial troubles.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the debt collections process, please check out my FREE CD – 7 Insider Secrets I used to raise my credit score almost 300 points! This CD comes with 2 weeks free enrollment to Credit Repair College – my weekly video coaching that takes you step by step through the credit repair process.
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