With the economy taking a hit, many people are finding that they are unable to afford their bills and having to work with a debt collector to get their lines of credit paid off. Although there are some debt collectors that do their job responsible, there is a significant minority of them who are some of the meanest, nastiest people you could ever talk to on a phone. Some of them blatantly violate Federal law when trying to get people to pay their bills and other debt collectors try to collect “debts” from people that don’t even owe the money!
There are debt collectors that will try to collect debt on loans that are well past the statute of limitation, meaning that they’ve been in default for so long that they can legally no longer collect the debt or put it on a person’s credit report. These collectors play off consumer’s ignorance of the law and try to get them to pay anyway. There are now some debt-buying companies that are trying to collect on debts from the 1980’s!
If you get contacted by one of these debt-buying agencies about a debt that you don’t owe or is well beyond the statute of limitations, you can fight back. Under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you have 5 days to respond to them. Under the law, you can send them a letter (via certified mail) that the debt is invalid and past the statute-of-limitations and that they can no longer contact you about collecting the debt. And if they do contact you after that, document it, and sue them. You’ll win.
There are also debt collectors that have been trying to collect debt from people that the debt was never there’s to begin with. They frequently try to get parents to collect their children’s delinquent debt, and it often works! There are recorded instances of debt collectors trying to collect debt of deceased individuals from their family members. There are instances of debt collectors that have tried to get victims of identity theft to pay debts that someone else opened in their name. These collectors and debt-buying companies are absolutely out of control.
The best way for you to defend yourself against ruthless debt collectors is to know your rights. A debt collector cannot garnish your paycheck or clean out your savings account without first suing you. You do not owe debt that is past the statute of limitations and they cannot place it on your credit report. You should never pay anyone else’s debt. You can legally tell them to go away forever and never contact you again about collecting a debt. They can only legally call you between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM, and that’s in your time zone, not theirs. They cannot call you at work if you tell them not to. They cannot harass or abuse you. Don’t fall for any games or tricks from collectors. If they’re abusing you, fight back!
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