Know your Debt Collection Rights
Knowing your debt collection rights protect you from underhanded strategies that many debt collectors do to get payments from their consumers. A lot of these debt collectors get away with these unlawful acts just because people are not informed on their debt collection rights and how to deal with each tricky situation. Being behind your monthly bill payment doesn’t give any debt collector the right to harass and abuse you for your unsettled credits. This abuse can be in the forms of threats, insults, obscene languages, calling your home or workplace to inform them you owe money, harassing your workmates and family, scaring your kids, or leaving threats to your voice mail or answering machine.
The infamous strategies debt collectors do can make any borrower cringe and hide for good. Thus, the Federal Trade Commission or FTC had passed a law protecting consumers from these type of abuses through the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or FDCPA.
Debt Collection Rights You Must Know Under the FDCPA:
1. The FDCPA covers family, personal, or even household loans, which would include debts from a personal credit card, mortgage, auto loan, or medical loans. However, your business loans are not covered by this act.
2. Your debt collector cannot contact you anytime they wish and they can only get in touch with you before 8:00 am and after 9:00 pm, unless there is an agreement stating otherwise. They cannot also call you at your workplace when you don’t allow it in the first place, either in oral or written mandate.
3. To tell the collector to stop contacting you, you need to send a written letter by mail and pay for a return receipt as a proof that your mail has been received. Make sure you keep a copy for your own. Doing this will stop the calls, but not the debt.
4. Know that debt collectors are not allowed by law to contact any third party more than once or discuss your debt with anyone, other than your attorney, your spouse, and yourself.
5. All debt collectors are required to send a validation notice on your debt within five days of their first contact with you. This notice shall include the creditor’s name where payment is due and steps to take if you think you don’t owe the stated amount of money.
6. Your debt collector must respect your wishes on which debt to make the payment first when you are settling multiple debts.
7. Your creditors or debt collectors may file a lawsuit to collect money from your wage or bank account – only by court order. Don’t ignore any summons from the court or you will lose the garnishment case filed against you.
8. Know that you can sue your debt collectors for cases of harassment, false statements, threats, false information, or unfair practices. You may win $1,000 or more in damages whether you really owe a credit or not.
9. Your federal and state benefits are exempt from garnishment due to bad debts.
To know the signs of abuse is the first step in knowing your debt collection rights, and these can be in the forms of:
* profanity
* calling incessantly to annoy
* false claims on their identities, like pretending to be lawyers or government employees
* false claims that you have done a serious crime
* misrepresentation of the money you owe
* falsely claiming that they’re sending you legal documents
* threatening you with imprisonment if you don’t pay your debts
* seizing your assets without court order
* giving false credit report
* faking official court or government documents, or even a fake company name
* collecting interests on top of what you owe
* sending you postcards about your debts
Be smart when it comes to debt
Being smarter is the key in preventing yourself from becoming another victim of uncanny debt collectors out there. Knowing your debt collection rights is just a tool. You need to be wary about letters, notices, voice mails, phone messages – and keep records of everything. In the end, by managing your spending habits and controlling your finances very well, you can avoid dealing with these unscrupulous debt collectors for good. If you feel your debt collection right is violated, contact your state’s attorney general ( www.naag.org ) or file a complaint with the FTC ( www.ftc.gov ) at hotlines: 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or TTY: 1-866-653-4261. Know Your Rights and Have a Peace of Mind!
RESOURCES:
Federal Trade Commission. “ Debt Collection FAQs: A Guide for Consumers. “ February 2009.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm
Credit.com. “ Understanding Your Debt Collection Rights. “ 1996 – 2009.
http://www.credit.com/credit_information/credit_law/Understanding-Your-Debt-Collection-Rights.jsp
Irby, LaToya. “ Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Overview. “ 2009. About.com.
http://credit.about.com/od/debtcollection/a/collectionlaw.htm
Irby, LaToya. “ 15 FDCPA Violations. “ 2009. About.com.
http://credit.about.com/od/debtcollection/tp/fdcpa-violations.htm
Burdge Law Office. “ Fair Debt Collection Rights. “ 2008.
http://www.ohiolemonlaw.com/ofc-debt-collection-rights.html
