How to stop debt collection agency harassment, know your rights, learn the law. Are you constantly being harassed by a debt collection agency for money you owe?  Much of this harassment may be illegal by either federal or state law.

Every day thousands of people are harassed by debt collection agencies.  At best this harassment is annoying but in many cases it may even be illegal.  You must be aware of the distinction between a creditor and a collection agency.  A creditor is the company to which you owe the money.  A debt collection agency is a third party (sometimes a law firm) that is charged with the task of collecting what you owe.  Sometimes these collection agencies will purchase your debt from the creditor at a lower cost and make money off the collection.  You have many rights according to federal law when dealing with collection agencies.  A summary of these rights is detailed below.  Certain states have additional protections from collection agencies and some even give you protection against creditors.  Information on particular state laws can be found on each states attorney general's page and valuable links are provided below.

Many people get called at work by debt collectors threatening to tell their boss what a deadbeat they are, or threatening that if they don't pay in full now, the debt collection agency will garnish their wages (take the money right out of their paycheck).  This is illegal, and a violation of Section 807 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=97797628825+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve   Here's an excerpt that applies to them lying about your wages being garnished:

Section 807(4) prohibits falsely representing or implying to the consumer that nonpayment "will result in the arrest or imprisonment of any [53 Fed. Reg. 50106] person or the seizure, garnishment, attachment, or sale of any property or wages of any person . . ."

If debt collection agencies do call you at work, tell them to stop, your company does not approve.  Whatever money they tell you that you owe, tell them to send you a written notice with all the terms and you'll pay by check. 

Any legitimate collection agency will do this.  Everything should be in writing.  Anything verbal they tell you over the phone is false until you see it in writing.

Never ever give your credit card number or checking account information over the phone to a debt collector, no matter how aggressive or threatening they become.  You'll regret it later.

Find Out Who Will Give You A Credit Card BEFORE You Apply:

A credit card for bad credit.

Instead of applying to several different credit cards, getting turned down, and having your credit ruined even more, try this cool credit card finder called Credit-Search.Com   http://www.freecreditsearch.com/index.php?a=00001    It's a credit card for people with bad credit. Just answer a few simple common questions, and they list all the credit card banks who are guaranteed to issue unsecured credit cards to people matching your criteria of "less than perfect credit".  It's like pre-qualifying, WITHOUT the credit check.

You have no idea who you're talking to, they could be a scam artist, some collection agencies are very unscrupulous.  They'll ask you for a credit card number and tell you that they'll just take a partial payment, but then you find later that they took out the entire amount, or even more!  They can wipe you out. Don't fall for this trick

If collection agencies claim they'll garnish your wages, tell them to put all that in writing and send you the bill, while you investigate their claims with FTC personnel.  Always get the FULL NAME of the person you're dealing with at the collection agency.  It's often not their real name anyway, we call them "stage names".  For once, put them on the defensive, and grill them about their full name.  Tell them they won't get a cent from you until they give you their last name.   Remind them it's a violation of FTC regulations to lie about their name.  Turn the tables on them and mess with their brains for once.

Here's a few more tips to avoid harassing phone calls outside the FTC's allowable time window:

Get FULL caller ID (it shows both the name and number) and don't answer your phone unless the caller's name is someone you know and trust.   Many times debt collectors block their caller ID information from being displayed on your caller ID box, so their name and number will not appear.  Your caller ID box will simply display "Unavailable" or "Out of Area".  If this happens a lot, find out from your phone company what code to dial on your phone that will block all calls from your house if they have their caller ID information turned off.  This is called call blocking, and works very nicely.  They'll get a recording from the phone company stating that their call cannot go through unless they turn on their caller ID information.  Let's face it, what do they have to hide?  If they are a legitimate business, there's no reason for them to hide their identity.

NEVER give a collection agency your cell phone number.

NEVER give the collection agency your family or friend's phone numbers to call you at their home.  They'll harass your family until you pay your bills.

NEVER offer to pay anything unless the debt collector claims it writing first.  If they call you on the phone, tell them they'll just have to wait.

YOUR RIGHTS WITH COLLECTION AGENCIES

 
A federal law called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act    http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=97797628825+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve   was created by the FTC to protect us.  Most people are unaware that this law even exists.  Unfortunately this law applies only to third party collection agencies and not to the creditor to which you owe the money, as they are usually banks, and assumed to be decent people.  Here's a brief summary of the FTC law:

1)  You may stop a collector from contacting you by writing them return receipt mail, and telling them to stop. Once the agency receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact. The debt collection agency may also notify you if the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action.

2)  Debt collection agencies may NOT contact you outside the hours of  8:00 AM and 9:00 PM.

3)  Debt collection agencies may NOT contact you at unreasonable places.

4)  Debt collection agencies may NOT contact you at work if you have told them that your employer does not approve of the contact.

5)  Debt collection agencies may NOT misrepresent themselves as agents of the government, attorneys, or as employees of credit bureaus.  They can't use false names either, although many do.

6)  Debt collection agencies may NOT make false statements.  For example they may not imply that you have committed a crime (since you have not done so).  They can't say that you'll go to jail, they can't lie about the status of legal documents they are sending you, and they can't say they'll garnish your wages.

7) Debt collection agencies may NOT contact other people about you except to find out where you live or work.  They cannot reveal how much debt you owe to other people or publish a list of people who have bad debt.  They cannot slander your reputation.

8) Debt collection agencies may NOT verbally abuse you, threaten your life, or use profanity.

9) Debt collection agencies may NOT cause your telephone to ring and ring, or engage any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.

Where to report a debt collector for an alleged violation
Report violations from a debt collector to your state Attorney General's office and the Federal Trade Commission. States have their own debt collection laws and your Attorney Generals office can help you determine your rights. Here's 2 sites to get you going.

Texas attorney general website  http://www.oag.state.tx.us/website/links.shtml#stateags  has a link page that  provides links to all the other state attorneys general.  Once you get to your state's Attorney General's office there will normally be a link for consumer affairs to follow for reporting alleged violations, as well as consumer protection information, with categories on debt collection.  Make sure you read all the information they have before contacting them.

Federal Trade Commission www.ftc.gov has a much more detailed FAQ including the full text of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  You should review both your state's Attorney General's site as well as the FTC site before taking any action so that you know you are in the right. 

If you are in deep with debt, you may consider a debt consolidation program or a debt consolidation loan with a lower APR than your current debt.  By consolidating your debt into a lower APR, your monthly payments will be less and you'll payoff your debt faster, and save money on interest.  You should only take out a consolidation loan IF you close out the accounts of the credit you want to payoff AND the APR of the loan is less than the debt you intend to payoff.

Remember, when collection agencies call:

Do not discuss any financial arrangements.

 If a creditor calls, take a moment and grab a pen

Ask for the information below, ONLY. If they refuse and get hostile  HANG UP!

      Creditor/Collection Agency Name:

      Representative name (first & last):

      Phone Number/Extension:

      Fax Number:

     Account Reference Number:

     Log date of call and time of call

     Add notes and comments while they are fresh on your mind.

 4. Refer the creditor to ___________tel #______________,                 tell them we are handling this account and simply hang up.

Do not accept calls from any creditor more than once.

Do not return calls or messages to creditors.

Keep this information and notes for your records.