If you’re an adult living in the United States, you’ve probably dealt with debt collectors at least once. Even the most responsible people get behind on payments, especially when medical bills and loans come into play.
If you’ve dealt with debt collectors before, it’s also likely that you’ve run across at least one that steps over the line into harassment. These are the ones who keep calling multiple times a day, won’t listen when you say you can’t or won’t pay them, and lay on the guilt to try and make you pay them. These are the collectors that most people max out their credit cards paying just to get the collectors to leave them alone.
This type of collector harassment isn’t something you need to put up with. Most people think that there isn’t any way to make them stop, and will otherwise consider running up credit cards to pay or just avoid phone calls completely. They leave the debtors feeling scared and stressed out, which is exactly how many of these collectors want you to feel. Fear is a good way to make people pay debts, whether or not they are owed.
You do have legal rights you can use to stop debt collectors from harassing you and acting abusive towards you over the phone.
Your Rights
There is a federal law called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Under the FDCPA, if you contact a collection agency in writing stating you cannot or will not pay, they must stop contacting you. If they continue to harass you, you may be able to sue them for damages, including attorney’s fees and costs.
This works for any debt collection agency that is not the original lender. This law is meant for most types of debt, such as household, personal, and medical. The only type of debt this can’t be used on is business debt.
There are specific laws on when and how debt collectors can contact you. For instance, unless you specifically tell them they can, debt collectors are not allowed to call before 8:00 A.M. or after 9:00 P.M. They also cannot contact you at work if you tell them that you aren’t allowed to receive calls there.
Debt collectors cannot use profanity at you, lie to or deceive you, or make threats such as throwing you in jail or letting others know about your debts. They are not allowed to contact anyone but you, your spouse, and any attorney you may have hired to talk about your debt. If they try contacting others, like your boss, parents, or any other people outside of that circle of three, then you have a case to make a complaint against them for illegal practices.
If calls persist, it would be a good idea to get a lawyer to tell them that all contact must go through the lawyer and not to you personally. McCue Law handles cases like this often and know how to handle collectors who wish to harass and bully to get payments. Sometimes it’s best to let the professionals do the hard work for you.