What are Your Rights in Dealing with Collection Agencies?

If you have credit problems that are progressing to somewhat serious where your creditors have sent your case to collection agencies, it is essential to be familiar with your legal rights. Collection agencies are not permitted to do the acts such as calling your office where you work or your own residence before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. Aside from that, they cannot communicate with you having an obnoxious manner or call your family or friends just to try to pull together a payment of your debt.

With the Collection Agencies Act (CAA), debt collectors are not allowed to stalk and hassle you. If you have experienced any of those mentioned action of a collection agency, you can inform the particular collection agency to bring to a halt the ways they are dealing with you. If it still keeps on going, you can ask the name and address. Once you have that information, you can report it to the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission or with your attorney in the general's office of your state. You can call them using the telephone numbers you have in your telephone book or thru calling the directory assistance.

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Debt Collectors are not Allowed to Contact Any Person Concerning Your Debt

Having an attorney, the debt collectors are not permitted to contact anybody regarding your debt except you and your attorney. If you are not getting a service of an attorney or have not found one yet, the debt collector are allowed to call other people but only to ask for your address and the area of your workplace. Collectors are generally forbidden from calling allowable third parties more than once. In various cases, the collector is not allowed to reveal any information regarding your debt but only you and the attorney you have hired.

What are the Needed Information that a Debt Collector should Inform You About Your Debt?

In the span of five days during the first time the collection agency have called you, the collector must mail you with a written statement informing you of the amount of debt you have. Aside from that, the name of the creditor in which you owe the money is also written. It is also placed on the letter what action you can take if you think you do not that kind of debt.

Can a Debt Collector Continually Contact You Regarding the Debt You Assume Not True?

A collector cannot call you if within the 30 days period after your first communication with the collector. You must send a letter to the collection agency regarding the debt that you do not owe to the company. Yet, a collection agency can make new collection activities if they are able to send proof about the debt you have such as bill statement with the amount you are in debt on.

Actions You can do Whenever a Collection Agency Violates the FDCPA

First, find a way to make the collection agency call you again and replicate everything that they have stated during the first encounter with them. Note all the illegal statements mentioned and used by the collection agency to scare and force you to pay off your debt. Find someone who can stand as a witness to listen using an extension on the conversation between the collector and yourself. Taping is allowed without the knowledge of the collector in each state except in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Finally, you must send a copy of your complaint stating it in detail manner to the creditor who utilized the services of a collection agency. If the violations are serious enough, the creditor may discontinue their collection efforts on you. If the violations are continuing, you can file complaints of the collection agency as well as the creditor who hired the agency for up to $1,000 in small claims court for not following the laws under FDCPA. You most likely will not win if you can only prove few minor violations. If the violations are extreme and offensive then you can take legal action against the collection agency and creditor in civil court.

See Also

Truth About Collection Agencies

Rules and Regulation of Collection Agencies

Collection Agency Discussion Forum

External Links

Collectionscreditrisk.com

Moneyproblems.ca

Wikipedia.org