| A Phone Call from a Credit Card Debt Collector? . . . You Do Not Need to Take It. |
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| Written by Matthew Highlander |
| Saturday, 15 August 2009 12:10 |
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Telephone calls have no legal weight since there is no record of what was said on a call. Knowing this, credit card debt collectors will say threatening things on the phone and get away with telling their lies. That is why consumer debt collectors choose to use the phone over mail. Debt collectors lose their power when communications are reduced to writing.
Telephone calls have no legal weight since there is no record of what was said on a call. Knowing this, credit card debt collectors will say threatening things on the phone and get away with telling their lies. That is why consumer debt collectors choose to use the phone over mail. Debt collectors lose their power when communications are reduced to writing. Written communications from and to a credit card debt collector are what matter in court. If a consumer is writing to a debt collector it should always be certified return receipt requested. 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 scare you by claiming that a lawsuit has been filed against you in your local court and that a complaint is on its way. 2. They threaten to have you arrested. (Debts are civil, not criminal.) 3. Debt collectors will threaten to have you arrested. No one can be arrested for a civil matter. 4. They threaten to have your wages garnished. 5. They might even threaten you with having your bank account seized. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is violated by each of these threats. On the phone, credit card debt collectors attempt to get you to admit to the debt, confirm the debt's credit card number and share personal information like your Social Security number, your work place phone number, and your bank account information. According to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide, at this point you should deny and dispute the debt (whether or not it is yours), tell them they are just a voice on the other end of the line. They could be anyone, and you do not share your personal financial information with strangers. Then hang up. If you get stuck on the telephone with a debt collector, get them to tell you which debt they are calling about, tell them that you need written notice of it from them, and hang up. You should be aware that as a consumer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you the right to write to the debt collector to instruct them to stop telephoning you. If they continue, they are breaking the law and are liable to a $1000 penalty for each call made. Consumers are advised to log each phone call to interest a specialist consumer rights attorney in suing the debt collector on a contingency fee basis. DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. Matt Highlander has researched the legal nonpayment strategies for dealing with credit card debt. If you cannot afford to pay, read his Credit Card Debt Survival Guide |