Are you being harassed unmercifully by creditors or collection agencies? We’ve heard stories of people receiving 10 to 20 phone calls a day from collection agencies–both at home and at work. If you owe money to one of these vultures there is no easy way to erase the debt. However, you do have some rights in terms of what creditors can and can’t do.
The Federal Statute
In fact, there is a federal statute called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). It actually gives you the right to sue debt collectors who “unlawfully threaten, berate, intimidate or harass you; call you during odd hours, make false representations about the debt or their intentions, or otherwise act in ways proscribed by the act (and there are many).”
In addition, debt collectors are not allowed to call you at inconvenient times such as before 8:00 AM and after 9:00 PM unless you have agreed to it. They are also not supposed to call you at work if you tell them orally or in writing that you are not allowed to take calls at your place of employment.
What you can do to stop the harassment
If you are being harassed over a debt, the first thing you need to do is “verify” it. In many cases, your original creditor (such as a credit card company) might have turned over your debt to a collection agency. It’s important to have the agency verify that it is actually your debt as mistakes can happen.
If you feel it’s not really your debt or the amount is incorrect, you need to write a letter to both the collection agency and the original creditor stating that you either do not agree with the amount of the deb or that you don’t owe the money. Be sure to date and sign the letter and keep a copy for your files. You might also want to send the letter with return receipt requested so you’ll have proof that both parties received it.
Is a Cease and Desist letter the answer to your debt problems?
If a creditor is continually calling and harassing you, you could send what’s called a cease and desist letter, telling the company to stop calling you. Again, be sure to sign and date the letter and you might send it as a certified letter. (NOTE: You will find a sample cease and desist letter on Google).
Be aware that using this tactic may raise a red flag to your creditors and push your file to the front of the line for a lawsuit.
You can report a company that violates the FDCPA to your state’s attorney general and to the Better Business Bureau.
As noted above, you have the right to sue any debt collector to a maximum that violates the FDCPA. However, many of these companies are headquartered outside the U.S. (you can guess why) so can’t be sued. However, you might want to contact an attorney to see if if would be worth pursuing the issue.
Sometimes there’s just no answer
Unfortunately, there is just no rock solid way to stop an unethical debt collector from calling you at home or your place of business. These people have only one goal and that’s to transfer money from your pocket to theirs and some will stop at nothing to accomplish this.
If all else fails, you might contact your phone company and ask it to block the collector’s phone number. If you don’t have an answering machine, you might want to get one and just not answer the phone unless you recognize the caller as a friend or relative. If you’re getting calls at work, you might ask your co-workers to tell the debt collector that you can’t take calls at work.