If you have several unsecured debts in credit cards, installment loans or both and haven’t been making regular payments to pay your debts, there is a high possibility that you will start being hounded by debt collectors pretty soon. Debt collectors instill fear and panic in the hearts of most people as their relentless and many a times unlawful practices of debt collection can create major havoc in your life. You can take debt management help in order to pay back your debts faster so that you don’t have to deal with collection agencies at all. However, in the meantime when you are in the process of paying back your debts with the help of debt management; here is some information that can help you to deal with collection agencies.
How can you deal with debt collectors?
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is the highest authority body of the nation for consumer protection, enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) which prevents the debt collectors from using unfair means, abusive methods and deceptive practices in order to collect debts from you.
- Under the FDCPA, your personal, family and household debts are covered including your personal credit card debts, installment loans, medical bills and so on. Business debts are not covered under this Act.
- A debt collector is prohibited from contacting you in any place at any time. Such inconveniences are averted by restricting the time in which a debt collector can contact you. A debt collector is not allowed to contact you before 8 in the morning or after 9 at night. Collectors are also prohibited from contacting you during your working hours if they are asked to do so either orally or in writing.
- If you think that a collector is contacting you regarding a debt that you don’t owe, you can stop the collector by giving a formal letter in writing and asking him to stop contacting you. You should send the original letter by certified mail and pay in order to get a return receipt so that you will be able to keep a document what the collector received. Thus you will be able to stop the collector from contacting you further. However if you send such a letter to a collector for a debt that you actually owe, you won’t be able to get rid of the debt. The creditor may file a lawsuit against you to get back the debt.
- If you hire an attorney to represent you, the debt collector is supposed to contact the attorney instead of you. In case you don’t have an attorney, the debt collector is legally allowed to contact other people but only to find out your place of work, home address and home phone number.
Thus you can see how you can deal with debt collectors using the above information.
Related articles
- How do you deal with debt collectors, and stop harrasing calls? (mysolidcompany.wordpress.com)
- Government Agency Continues Its Fight Against Abusive Debt Collectors (huffingtonpost.com)
- Debt collector pays $2.5M fine to settle deception charges (usatoday.com)
- Dangers When Dealing With Past-Due Bills (abcnews.go.com)
- The Guidelines Regulating Debt Collectors & Your Consumer Rights (christianpf.com)
