The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act is a federal law that dictates what debt collectors can and can’t do when trying to collect money from consumers. In essence, it bans collectors from harassment, intimidation and use of overly aggressive and illegal threats when trying to collect on pass due debts.
Q: Hi, Can a debt collector that is based in and licensed in the state of Delaware, collect a debt from me in California? Also, I know California no longer requires California agencies to be licensed, however they have broken 3 possibly four of the FDCPA rules and I would like to report them, but I don’t know to […]
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Q: Should I settle in full on an account that has already been closed or charged off? Or should I demand a paid in full receipt once we have a negotiated amount? A: Without knowing the specific type of debt involved, what state you’re in, and how old the debt is, it’s hard for me
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Beware of calls from shady, unlicensed collection agencies and their verbal threats to garnish your wages. I recently heard about people receiving repeated calls from the PDLR Group. Apparently representatives from PDLR were threatening to garnish people’s wages and consumers wanted to know if this was legitimate. One individual questioned the legitimacy of the PDLR
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Fed-up consumers are fighting back against overly aggressive debt collectors, slapping collection agencies and creditors with a record 7,923 lawsuits from January 1 through August 15, 2011, according to a report in Collections & Credit Risk. By comparison, in the same period from a year ago, consumers filed only 7,169 such lawsuits. That means lawsuits
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Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you have the right to send a bill collector a “debt validation” letter requesting more information about the debt you are being told is still outstanding. This letter prompts the bill collector to send you proof of debt in the form of a complete payment history, a copy
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If a bill collector has started to contact you about an outstanding debt and is using some intimidation tactics to get you to pay up fast, you need to be very careful about what you say to them and when you actually make a payment. In some cases, you could be relieved from the debt
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Your bill collector may have sent you a letter contacting you about your outstanding debt or called you to introduce themselves. If you choose to accept a phone call and engage a debt collector in conversation, you may have more negotiating power if you record your call. You do have the right to record your
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Have you ever been harassed by a bill collector because of a past due bill? If the answer is ‘yes’, the bill collector is in violation of a Federal law. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the country’s consumer protection agency and enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to prevent “abusive, unfair or deceptive
Know and Assert Your Rights Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Read More »
Reduce Your Debts Without Bankruptcy. See How Much You Can Save. Free Debt Analysis When you are contacted by a debt collector, one of the first things you need to do is verify that their claim is legitimate and if it is, confirm that the debt collector is actually licensed to collect on that debt
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If you’ve ever had to deal with debt collectors, you know that many of them can be extremely persistent, rude and even downright obnoxious. But how do you know if a debt collector is flat-out lying to you or misrepresenting the facts just to get you to fork over some cash? It’s not always easy
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Don’t pay them anything. Send a cease and desist letter in which you tell them to stop contacting you. Harassing people about debts (old debts, like yours, or current ones) is illegal under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
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If harassing calls from debt collectors are keeping you from answering the phone — or stressing you out — you’re not alone.
Amid the tough economy, debt collection activity has intensified, with some debt collectors engaging in unfair, abusive or illegal practices. The Federal Trade Commission says it gets more complaints about debt collectors than any other industry. In 2009, the agency received 88,190 consumer complaints about debt collectors, up 12% from the year before.
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Question: I have an outstanding debt of $750 with a college which is currently handled by a collection agency. The agency is telling me my debt is now $1,000. Is it legal for the debt collector to add collection fees and refuse to settle for my original amount? Answer: What debt collectors can and can’t
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