It can be frustrating when you fall behind on your payments and can't seem to get anywhere, especially if you try to deal with your lender in order to make payment arrangements. Then you start to get continuous calls from a debt collection services company, demanding payments and threatening outlandish consequences. Now, collection agency harassment is handled differently. There are laws in place that all these agencies must follow or they may face fines and lawsuits.
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission reported that they received 71,000 complaints about agency collection strategies. Many of these consumers claimed that personnel from a financial collection agency had used profane, obscene or otherwise abusive language.
If a collection agency calls you, you have rights; regardless of whether or not you are past due on money owing. There are laws that define how and when an agency can call you.
When dealing with collectors you do have certain rights that the FTC has outlined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. These agencies must follow those regulations.
This means that it would be collection agency harassment for them to contact you continuously at work, if you have told them that your boss does not approve. Nor can they call you before 8:00 am or after 9:00 pm, use abusive language or threaten you or your reputation.
In order to stop collection agency calls you need to write a letter to the company telling them to cease. However, the agency is allowed to contact you to let you know about a particular action that they are going to take. Writing the letter does not mean that you do not have to make good on your bad debt collection. You can still be sued by the original creditor or the collector.
If you feel that the collector you are speaking with is not listening and just continues to talk, then ask to speak with their supervisor. Often times, if you exhibit some knowledge of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and collection accounts, then your case will be handled much better.
When a collection agency calls and speaks with your relatives, friends or employers they are not allowed to tell them that you owe money. They can only ask for specific information, such as where you live and work or to verify this information.
If they do discuss the particulars with others and say that you owe money, then it is considered third party disclosure and it is against the law. Collection agency harassment would also include making false statements, including threats to have you arrested.
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