There is little or no legal weight to a phone call from a credit card debt collector. Anyone can say anything and get away with it. Debt collectors use that to their full advantage. The telephone is their weapon of choice. Once things get reduced to writing, they become toothless.
What matters in court are the written communications, or the lack of them, between a consumer and a credit card debt collector. Mail sent certified return receipt requested further helps the consumer put the debt collector on the defensive.
It is commonly accepted that all credit card debt collectors lie on the telephone. Here are some of the lies they tell over the telephone:
1. They claim over the telephone that a lawsuit has been filed against you in your local court, and that the summons is on its way to you. This is an awful, scary lie.
2. They threaten to have you arrested. (Debts are civil, not criminal.)
3. They tell you you may be arrested, knowing no one can be arrested for a civil matter.
4. They will tell you may have your wages reduced to pay your debt, and you will get a negative listing on your credit report.
5. They threaten to have your bank account seized.
Each of these lies is punishable with a $1000 fine with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
These threats are attempts to get you to confirm that the debt is yours. The credit card debt collector wants to confirm the credit card number in question and get other personal information. They want to know your Social Security number, the phone number of your work place and even information about your bank account. The Credit Card Debt Survival Guide says that you should react by disputing the debt and denying it over the phone to the credit card debt collector. Remember that the person on the other end of the line unknown to you. Tell them you do not share personal information over the phone with people unknown to you and then hang up.
Curiosity should be the only reason for taking one of these calls. If a credit card debt collector calls out of the cold, let them tell you what debt they are calling about, then tell them you have received no written notice from them about the debt and hang up.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows the consumer to instruct the debt collector in writing to stop all collection calls. After that each call is a violation of the law, and subject to a $1000 penalty. Consumers should keep logs of the phone calls and contact a consumer rights attorney, who may agree to sue the credit card debt collector over these violations on a contingency fee basis. - 29971
What matters in court are the written communications, or the lack of them, between a consumer and a credit card debt collector. Mail sent certified return receipt requested further helps the consumer put the debt collector on the defensive.
It is commonly accepted that all credit card debt collectors lie on the telephone. Here are some of the lies they tell over the telephone:
1. They claim over the telephone that a lawsuit has been filed against you in your local court, and that the summons is on its way to you. This is an awful, scary lie.
2. They threaten to have you arrested. (Debts are civil, not criminal.)
3. They tell you you may be arrested, knowing no one can be arrested for a civil matter.
4. They will tell you may have your wages reduced to pay your debt, and you will get a negative listing on your credit report.
5. They threaten to have your bank account seized.
Each of these lies is punishable with a $1000 fine with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
These threats are attempts to get you to confirm that the debt is yours. The credit card debt collector wants to confirm the credit card number in question and get other personal information. They want to know your Social Security number, the phone number of your work place and even information about your bank account. The Credit Card Debt Survival Guide says that you should react by disputing the debt and denying it over the phone to the credit card debt collector. Remember that the person on the other end of the line unknown to you. Tell them you do not share personal information over the phone with people unknown to you and then hang up.
Curiosity should be the only reason for taking one of these calls. If a credit card debt collector calls out of the cold, let them tell you what debt they are calling about, then tell them you have received no written notice from them about the debt and hang up.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows the consumer to instruct the debt collector in writing to stop all collection calls. After that each call is a violation of the law, and subject to a $1000 penalty. Consumers should keep logs of the phone calls and contact a consumer rights attorney, who may agree to sue the credit card debt collector over these violations on a contingency fee basis. - 29971
About the Author:
Matt Highlander learned how to frustrate credit card debt collectors and collection attorneys. If you cannot afford to pay, read his Credit Card Debt Survival Guide
