Debt Collector Phone Calls & Your Rights: Bankruptcy News Article

When debt collectors call, they can use tactics that border on harassment or that are downright illegal. Here are 5 of the most common tactics that debt collectors employ over the phone, and what you can do about them. Before examining these tactics, you need to be aware of the federal law known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), a law under which you can protect yourself from abusive tactics and assert your rights.

Your Rights Under the FDCPA

For one thing, you have the right to ask a debt collector to stop getting in touch with you. If you ask them to stop, they have to. There may be reasons that you do not want to assert this right, however. Sure, these calls are a nuisance, but they can be a helpful nuisance. You may want to be regularly updated on how your account is going, instead of being suddenly met with a lawsuit out of the blue. That being said, there is definitely a great benefit to reducing stress in your life, something that wielding your FDCPA rights can accomplish. It should be noted though, that if you do ask the collector to stop calling you, can they still reach you:

To announce that they will stop trying to collect from you, or
To let you know that the agency or creditor is going to sue you or take some other legal action.

If a debt collector violates this, or any other of the terms of the FDCPA, you have many legal options on your hands, such as filling a complaint with the government or even pursuing a lawsuit. Here then are some of the legal, semi-legal, and illegal practices that a debt collector might use against you:

1) Issuing Threats

A debt collector might bully people by saying they will have them arrested, install a wage garnishment, or file a lawsuit against them. Isn't that illegal? It depends. What is illegal, under the FDCPA, is to make an empty threat, one that the collector cannot follow through on. So while it is possible for a collector to create a garnishment or to file a lawsuit, a collector cannot threaten you with these actions until they are actually able to do so. For instance, a collector has to have a judgment against you before they can move forward with a wage garnishment. If they do not have this judgment, then to threaten you with wage garnishment is illegal. Likewise, if the conditions are not ready yet for a lawsuit, a collector cannot follow through on this threat, and thus cannot legally issue this threat. As for the threat of having you arrested, this is always unlawful, as you cannot be arrested for a non-criminal proceeding. If a collector threatens you with arrest, you can be certain that he or she is the one breaking the law.

2) Going After Your Neighbors and Relatives

A collection agency might make a call to your neighbors and family members in an effort to get a hold of you. Collectors have a careful line to tread in order to ensure that these calls are not illegal. A debt collector can ask about your location, but they can ask nothing else. They also cannot mention a single detail about your account or debt. They also cannot contact a third party an additional time unless they think there has been a change. If you do not want third parties to be contacted at all, you can send a letter to the debt collector saying so. Hold onto a copy of this letter for yourself, so that you can prove the collector is violating the FDCPA if they do call a third party.

3) Scammer Posing as a Debt Collector

There are numerous frauds out there, sending out a salvo of calls and letters from a fake debt collection agency. If someone has several debts, it may be too easy to mix up the fake collector with the real ones. Also, scammers often go after the elderly. If you get a phone call from a debt collector, you should never, ever give out personal information. And if you think that a caller might be a fake, ask them for information, which should include:

The original creditor's name
The creditor's address
The debt collection agency's address
Your name and address
How much debt you owe

If you are ever uncertain about the legitimacy of a caller, use their contact info to send a written letter telling them to only communicate with you in written form from now on.

4) Harassing

Legally speaking, harassment is more than stressful correspondence. What qualifies as a harassing phone call?

Making an "inconvenient" call, during dinner or on a holiday for instance
Calling you before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.
Calling you at a workplace where you can't field personal calls
Shouting or cursing

There are some states where you can record the call, but find out what the law is before you tape the conversation, because other states say that recording the call is illegal. What you can always do is jot down the time and substance of the call, keeping track of what behavior the collector engages in. As always, you could assert your rights under the FDCPA, or you could write to them saying to stop the calls and to only communicate in writing.

5) Calling You Instead of Your Lawyer

If you have an attorney, then the debt collector has to address all future communication with your attorney and not you. So once you have retained a lawyer, the next time a collector calls, give them your lawyer's contact information. If you get any calls after that point, keep a log of these calls and let your lawyer know about this. Once a collector contacts you after knowing you have a lawyer, they are violating the FDCPA.

While there are nightmare stories about collectors, there are collectors who are courteous, or who at the very least are not acting illegally. If you can actually pay the debt, then the phone call could be an opportunity to negotiate a different payment plan or some other manageable way of handling your debt. If you need to know about your rights and how to protect them, or if you need to explore your debt relief options, be sure to contact a bankruptcy lawyer from our directory!