If you haven’t been affected by debt collectors yourself, chances are that you have heard stories of how persistent these companies can be. The question is how far can they legally push you before they have gone too far? The truth is that debt collectors can do as much as contact your family, friends even neighbors when they are trying to get a hold of you. Even though they contact your friends or loved ones they may not disclose any account information to them. They are only allowed to say where they are calling from and that they are trying to locate you. However, if the third party requests the collectors to stop the calls they must do so. If you want to avoid the embarrassing phone calls to your friends, relatives and neighbors, it’s best to not ignore the phone calls from the debt collection agencies.

With the current state of our economy many people are falling into debt and many bottom of the barrel debt collectors are coming out of the wood work harassing good people. In addition to that, with the amount of errors reporting on peoples credit reports many consumers are being falsely accused of owing debts they really don’t owe. Some of the worst debt collectors will illegally threaten consumers with wage garnishment, arrest, lawsuits, and generally unprofessionally harassing innocent consumers. Some will call you many times at your home, job, or call family members and neighbors to get a hold of you. Many people pay debts they don’t really owe in fear of the collectors pursuing their threats. Generally the worst kind of debt collectors purchase old debts that are far beyond the statue of limitations for pennies on the dollar and aggressively pursue Americans to pay the debt so that they can make a profit. Usually these debt collectors don’t have any supporting documentation that you owe the debt! They rely on their sleazy tactics to get you to pay debts you either don’t owe or are past the laws statute of limitations.

Know your rights! Get Familiar with The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act!

There are many laws currently in effect to protect consumers against debt collectors, but unfortunately many people aren’t aware of them. For instance if you send a “cease and desist” letter to a credit collector asking them not to call you anymore and direct any future correspondence through mail, they are required by law to stop otherwise the consumer is entitled to a $1000 from the collector each time thereafter they receive a phone call from the collector. It’s important to send letters through certified mail so you have proof the collection agency received your letter. The website budhibbs.com is an excellent resource for victims of debt collector harassment. Their site has many resources to help innocent consumers deal with debt collectors and even allows you to share your stories with other victims of collection agencies. In addition on this site you can view and add to a list of collection agencies that are guilty of illegally harassing people. It’s basically one of the few resources on the web that allows consumers to have their voices heard and expose these scams artists!

Some Things To Remember:

- Never trust anything a debt collector promises until you receive it in writing!
- Never give a debt collector your checking account number. Doing so is dangerous and you risk having your bank account emptied.
- Always ask a debt collector for written verification of your debt, before agreeing to anything.

In conclusion I would like to stress that not all collection agencies and debt collectors are bad. Most are professional and abide by the law, however the small group of bad agencies and collectors unfortunately are giving a bad name to the whole industry. It’s Important to check your credit reports frequently to determine if errors such as false accounts are appearing on your credit report. This is an important step to avoid dealing with this recent epidemic. Contact CreditLawGroup to get help disputing any misleading, inaccurate, or unverifiable information on your credit report.