Dirty tricks bill collectors play on people.
Just some of the dirty tricks bill collectors play on people.
Badgering phone calls and threats, insults and outright lies -- these are just a few of the unfair and illegal tactics that some debt collectors unleash on consumers. These rogue collectors don't represent the entire industry, but they are not uncommon.
"It's just threats and intimidation, but you keep it vague," says Michael Flannagan, a former debt-collection supervisor in Tacoma, Wash. "A lot of things bill collectors do are downright dirty and illegal."
Third-party collectors, agencies hired by creditors to collect unpaid bills, are some of the most abusive.
Just ask Angela M., a mother of two, in Denton, Texas. She fell behind on four credit card bills in late 2001.
"When it went to the collection agencies, it turned really personal," Angela says.
"They called me a deadbeat. They called me a criminal. I had perfect, spotless credit before this happened."
Angela's roughly $40,000 in overdue debt stems from a small business. She opened a children's boutique in 1998.
One debt collector accused her of running up her credit card balances with no intention of paying.
One collector told her to sell her house. Another threatened her home. One debt collector scolded her for taking her children to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza. Another collector told Angela, who is expecting another child, that she had no business being pregnant.
The calls were constant and the insults seemed endless.
"They were calling all the time and I told them I couldn't pay and they would just keep calling," Angela says.
"I was terrified. I thought I was going to end up in debtor's prison or at least lose my home."
Intimidation usually works
And that's exactly how a debt collector wants you to feel. They figure if they harass you enough, you'll pay up.
"The collection industry is sometimes so motivated to collect that they'll do anything and I mean anything to accomplish that," says Peter Barry, a consumer rights trial lawyer in St. Paul, Minn.
It doesn't matter that you don't have the money or that you have more important bills to pay first. It doesn't matter that you were sick or had an accident or lost your job.
"You're just an account number they need to get money out of," says Mary Fons, a consumer protection attorney in Stoughton, Wisc.
It may not even matter that it's not your bill.
"Many times the abuse continues anyway, even though it's not that person's bill," Fons says. "They just expect people are lying to them and that's how they treat people."
Not only is this kind of harassment rude and uncalled for, it's illegal.
Know the rules
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed in 1977 to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors. There's a whole list of rules third-party debt collectors must follow when collecting a debt.
All those brutal insults and threats aren't supposed to happen.
Unfortunately for consumers, some debt collectors violate the law on a regular basis.
They'll threaten to garnish your wages or take away your car or home when they have no right or intent to do so. They'll threaten to press criminal charges.
"They threaten to get the police involved as if not paying a civil debt is a criminal matter," Fons says.
A dirty debt collector will call you at all hours of the day. They'll threaten to tell an employer or spouse or relative about your debt. They'll call you at work after you told them not to contact you while you're working.
"Even if they told you not to call them at work, how do you prove they told you?" Flannagan says. "You bend the rules when they can't prove it."
They'll call your employer several times in a single day to frustrate and embarrass you.
"I had one case where they placed 16 phone calls in 10 minutes to a lady at work," says Jerry Jarzombek, a consumer attorney in Fort Worth, Texas.
A debt collector could even inflate the amount you owe. How much could a debt collector up your bill? One family bounced a $12 check to Papa John's. A debt collector demanded $140.
"It's just rampant profiteering," says Rob Treinen, a consumer attorney in Albuquerque, N.M. "They tried to collect a lot more than allowed by law, more than 10 times the amount."
Why do some debt collectors violate the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act so often? Because they know they can get away with it.
"The odds are very small that you're going to get caught," Flannagan says.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
# Maybe you had a hospital stay and didn't have insurance to cover it. Or maybe you bought a car that turned out to be a wreck. Perhaps you didn't get the raise you were expecting when you made all those charges on your credit card, or even lost your job.
Many folks fall behind in debt payments. On top of the anxiety of trying to make ends meet and worrying about your outstanding debt, you start to cringe when the phone rings because you are afraid it's the debt collector. Debt collectors seem like an added punishment with harassing and sometimes abusive phone calls at home and at work.
There is a federal law that controls how debt collectors may treat you and how they may go about collecting the debt. It is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and it covers your personal, family and household debts. This column and the next issue's column provide information about what debt collectors may and may not do, and how you can control their contact with you under this law.
A debt collector is prohibited by law from harassing you. Debt collectors are not allowed to swear at you or use obscene language; they cannot threaten you with violence; they cannot publish your name and say that you haven't paid your debt (except they may give this information to a credit bureau); they can't call you at all hours of the day or keep calling you if you tell them to stop. They also can't threaten you with arrest or falsely imply that you have committed a crime.
What time can a debt collector call me?
A debt collector cannot call you before 8 a.m or after 9:00 p.m. unless you specifically agree that he may do so.
Can debt collectors call me at work?
Not if you tell them not to. If you tell the collector that your employer disapproves of your getting those calls at work, then those calls will have to stop.
How do I get them to stop bothering me?
Write a letter to the debt collection agency and tell them to stop contacting you. After that, they can contact you only to tell you that they won't contact you anymore, or to notify you that some specific action is going to be taken. If you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact your attorney, not you.
The debt collector has called my friends and family, can he do this?
They may only contact other people to find out your phone number and where you live and work. The shouldn't be asking questions about you personally or about your income. They shouldn't call the same person repeatedly and begin harassing your friends and family. They also shouldn't tell other people about your debt.
What if they are wrong and I don't owe the money that they claim I do?
Within five days of first contacting you, they must notify you in writing, of exactly what you owe and the name of the business or person you owe money to. When they send you written disclosure about your debt they must also tell you what to do if you disagree that you owe that debt. Within 30 days of receiving that notice from the debt collector, you should write them back and tell them that you do not owe the money. For your own protection, you should keep a copy of your letter to the debt collector, and you should mail in certified, return receipt requested so that you have proof of the date you sent it and that it was received. If they have proof that you owe the debt, such as a bill, then they must send you a copy of it. They can renew their efforts to get the money if they show you the proof, but you can still tell them not to contact you as described above.
If the debt collector violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act you have the right to bring suit in federal or D.C. Superior Court within one year from the date of the violation. If you win, you can get back any money damages you suffered, plus up to $1000, court costs and attorney's fees.
Next week: a list of debt collection actions that violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law that controls how and when a debt collector may contact a consumer who owes money, and it provides penalties against debt collectors who violate the law. In the last issue this column addressed how and when a debt collector may contact a consumer, or her friends and family, and what the consumer can do to make harassing contact stop. This column provides a list of specific actions by a debt collector that violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Harassing or Abusive Conduct
A debt collector may not harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. The collector may not use, or threaten to use, violence or other criminal means to harm you, your property or your reputation. A debt collector may not swear at you, or use obscene language. He may not call you repeatedly or continuously with the intent to annoy, abuse, or harass you.
False or Misleading Representations
A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation in connection with the collection of any debt. This means that the collector cannot lie or mislead you or someone else with regard to your debt or in the process of collecting your debt. The collector must tell you up front, the first time he contacts you, in writing or verbally, that his purpose is to collect a debt, and that any information you give him will be used for that purpose. The debt collector must always tell you that he is a debt collector and not pretend to be someone else, or pretend to be speaking to you for some other purpose. He can't use the name of any business or organization other than his actual one.
The collector may not falsely imply that he is bonded by or affiliated with the United States government or any state government, including by flashing a badge or wearing a uniform. He may not use or distribute a document that falsely suggests that it is authorized or issued by the U.S. government or by a state government. In other words, he can't falsely try to make you, or anyone else, think that he is acting on behalf of the government or on behalf of law enforcement.
The collector may not falsely imply that he is an attorney or that any communication is from an attorney. The collector may not falsely represent the amount or legal status of your debt.
The collector may not imply or state that he is going to have you arrested or that your property or wages will be seized, garnished or sold, unless such action is lawful and the debt collector actually intends to take that action. In other words, the debt collector can't make generalized threats against you about all the terrible things that he is going to do to you. He can only state certain specific acts that he intends to take, and only if those acts are legal. He may not falsely imply that you committed a crime or try to disgrace you.
The collector may not tell another person, or threaten to tell another person, false information about you. If he provides credit information about you, he also cannot fail to report that you are disputing the debt.
If the collector serves you with legal process, he may not falsely represent that the documents are something else, or that they do not require your response. He also may not falsely imply that documents are legal process when they are, in fact, not.
Unfair Practices
The collector may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt. He may not lie to you or deceive you into accepting collect telephone calls or telegram fees.
The collector may not deposit your post-dated check prior to its date, nor may he threaten you that he is going to that to you.
A collector may not collect any amount above the debt, like interest, fees, charges or other expenses, unless that amount is expressly authorized by the agreement that created your debt in the first place, and those amounts must be permitted by law.
Badgering phone calls and threats, insults and outright lies -- these are just a few of the unfair and illegal tactics that some debt collectors unleash on consumers. These rogue collectors don't represent the entire industry, but they are not uncommon.
"It's just threats and intimidation, but you keep it vague," says Michael Flannagan, a former debt-collection supervisor in Tacoma, Wash. "A lot of things bill collectors do are downright dirty and illegal."
Third-party collectors, agencies hired by creditors to collect unpaid bills, are some of the most abusive.
Just ask Angela M., a mother of two, in Denton, Texas. She fell behind on four credit card bills in late 2001.
"When it went to the collection agencies, it turned really personal," Angela says.
"They called me a deadbeat. They called me a criminal. I had perfect, spotless credit before this happened."
Angela's roughly $40,000 in overdue debt stems from a small business. She opened a children's boutique in 1998.
One debt collector accused her of running up her credit card balances with no intention of paying.
One collector told her to sell her house. Another threatened her home. One debt collector scolded her for taking her children to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza. Another collector told Angela, who is expecting another child, that she had no business being pregnant.
The calls were constant and the insults seemed endless.
"They were calling all the time and I told them I couldn't pay and they would just keep calling," Angela says.
"I was terrified. I thought I was going to end up in debtor's prison or at least lose my home."
Intimidation usually works
And that's exactly how a debt collector wants you to feel. They figure if they harass you enough, you'll pay up.
"The collection industry is sometimes so motivated to collect that they'll do anything and I mean anything to accomplish that," says Peter Barry, a consumer rights trial lawyer in St. Paul, Minn.
It doesn't matter that you don't have the money or that you have more important bills to pay first. It doesn't matter that you were sick or had an accident or lost your job.
"You're just an account number they need to get money out of," says Mary Fons, a consumer protection attorney in Stoughton, Wisc.
It may not even matter that it's not your bill.
"Many times the abuse continues anyway, even though it's not that person's bill," Fons says. "They just expect people are lying to them and that's how they treat people."
Not only is this kind of harassment rude and uncalled for, it's illegal.
Know the rules
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed in 1977 to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors. There's a whole list of rules third-party debt collectors must follow when collecting a debt.
All those brutal insults and threats aren't supposed to happen.
Unfortunately for consumers, some debt collectors violate the law on a regular basis.
They'll threaten to garnish your wages or take away your car or home when they have no right or intent to do so. They'll threaten to press criminal charges.
"They threaten to get the police involved as if not paying a civil debt is a criminal matter," Fons says.
A dirty debt collector will call you at all hours of the day. They'll threaten to tell an employer or spouse or relative about your debt. They'll call you at work after you told them not to contact you while you're working.
"Even if they told you not to call them at work, how do you prove they told you?" Flannagan says. "You bend the rules when they can't prove it."
They'll call your employer several times in a single day to frustrate and embarrass you.
"I had one case where they placed 16 phone calls in 10 minutes to a lady at work," says Jerry Jarzombek, a consumer attorney in Fort Worth, Texas.
A debt collector could even inflate the amount you owe. How much could a debt collector up your bill? One family bounced a $12 check to Papa John's. A debt collector demanded $140.
"It's just rampant profiteering," says Rob Treinen, a consumer attorney in Albuquerque, N.M. "They tried to collect a lot more than allowed by law, more than 10 times the amount."
Why do some debt collectors violate the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act so often? Because they know they can get away with it.
"The odds are very small that you're going to get caught," Flannagan says.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
# Maybe you had a hospital stay and didn't have insurance to cover it. Or maybe you bought a car that turned out to be a wreck. Perhaps you didn't get the raise you were expecting when you made all those charges on your credit card, or even lost your job.
Many folks fall behind in debt payments. On top of the anxiety of trying to make ends meet and worrying about your outstanding debt, you start to cringe when the phone rings because you are afraid it's the debt collector. Debt collectors seem like an added punishment with harassing and sometimes abusive phone calls at home and at work.
There is a federal law that controls how debt collectors may treat you and how they may go about collecting the debt. It is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and it covers your personal, family and household debts. This column and the next issue's column provide information about what debt collectors may and may not do, and how you can control their contact with you under this law.
A debt collector is prohibited by law from harassing you. Debt collectors are not allowed to swear at you or use obscene language; they cannot threaten you with violence; they cannot publish your name and say that you haven't paid your debt (except they may give this information to a credit bureau); they can't call you at all hours of the day or keep calling you if you tell them to stop. They also can't threaten you with arrest or falsely imply that you have committed a crime.
What time can a debt collector call me?
A debt collector cannot call you before 8 a.m or after 9:00 p.m. unless you specifically agree that he may do so.
Can debt collectors call me at work?
Not if you tell them not to. If you tell the collector that your employer disapproves of your getting those calls at work, then those calls will have to stop.
How do I get them to stop bothering me?
Write a letter to the debt collection agency and tell them to stop contacting you. After that, they can contact you only to tell you that they won't contact you anymore, or to notify you that some specific action is going to be taken. If you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact your attorney, not you.
The debt collector has called my friends and family, can he do this?
They may only contact other people to find out your phone number and where you live and work. The shouldn't be asking questions about you personally or about your income. They shouldn't call the same person repeatedly and begin harassing your friends and family. They also shouldn't tell other people about your debt.
What if they are wrong and I don't owe the money that they claim I do?
Within five days of first contacting you, they must notify you in writing, of exactly what you owe and the name of the business or person you owe money to. When they send you written disclosure about your debt they must also tell you what to do if you disagree that you owe that debt. Within 30 days of receiving that notice from the debt collector, you should write them back and tell them that you do not owe the money. For your own protection, you should keep a copy of your letter to the debt collector, and you should mail in certified, return receipt requested so that you have proof of the date you sent it and that it was received. If they have proof that you owe the debt, such as a bill, then they must send you a copy of it. They can renew their efforts to get the money if they show you the proof, but you can still tell them not to contact you as described above.
If the debt collector violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act you have the right to bring suit in federal or D.C. Superior Court within one year from the date of the violation. If you win, you can get back any money damages you suffered, plus up to $1000, court costs and attorney's fees.
Next week: a list of debt collection actions that violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law that controls how and when a debt collector may contact a consumer who owes money, and it provides penalties against debt collectors who violate the law. In the last issue this column addressed how and when a debt collector may contact a consumer, or her friends and family, and what the consumer can do to make harassing contact stop. This column provides a list of specific actions by a debt collector that violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Harassing or Abusive Conduct
A debt collector may not harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. The collector may not use, or threaten to use, violence or other criminal means to harm you, your property or your reputation. A debt collector may not swear at you, or use obscene language. He may not call you repeatedly or continuously with the intent to annoy, abuse, or harass you.
False or Misleading Representations
A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation in connection with the collection of any debt. This means that the collector cannot lie or mislead you or someone else with regard to your debt or in the process of collecting your debt. The collector must tell you up front, the first time he contacts you, in writing or verbally, that his purpose is to collect a debt, and that any information you give him will be used for that purpose. The debt collector must always tell you that he is a debt collector and not pretend to be someone else, or pretend to be speaking to you for some other purpose. He can't use the name of any business or organization other than his actual one.
The collector may not falsely imply that he is bonded by or affiliated with the United States government or any state government, including by flashing a badge or wearing a uniform. He may not use or distribute a document that falsely suggests that it is authorized or issued by the U.S. government or by a state government. In other words, he can't falsely try to make you, or anyone else, think that he is acting on behalf of the government or on behalf of law enforcement.
The collector may not falsely imply that he is an attorney or that any communication is from an attorney. The collector may not falsely represent the amount or legal status of your debt.
The collector may not imply or state that he is going to have you arrested or that your property or wages will be seized, garnished or sold, unless such action is lawful and the debt collector actually intends to take that action. In other words, the debt collector can't make generalized threats against you about all the terrible things that he is going to do to you. He can only state certain specific acts that he intends to take, and only if those acts are legal. He may not falsely imply that you committed a crime or try to disgrace you.
The collector may not tell another person, or threaten to tell another person, false information about you. If he provides credit information about you, he also cannot fail to report that you are disputing the debt.
If the collector serves you with legal process, he may not falsely represent that the documents are something else, or that they do not require your response. He also may not falsely imply that documents are legal process when they are, in fact, not.
Unfair Practices
The collector may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt. He may not lie to you or deceive you into accepting collect telephone calls or telegram fees.
The collector may not deposit your post-dated check prior to its date, nor may he threaten you that he is going to that to you.
A collector may not collect any amount above the debt, like interest, fees, charges or other expenses, unless that amount is expressly authorized by the agreement that created your debt in the first place, and those amounts must be permitted by law.
posted by Creditwrench at 8:05 AM
