| Fending off Credit Card Debt Collectors Begins with a Guiltless Attitude |
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| Written by Matthew Highlander |
| Friday, 07 August 2009 18:03 |
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Every day more consumers fall behind on their credit card debt payments and leave themselves open to being threatened by credit card debt collectors. Some people simply cannot afford to pay their growing minimum-monthly credit-card debt payment(s), as a result they begin to feel hopeless and guilty.
Every day more consumers fall behind on their credit card debt payments and leave themselves open to being threatened by credit card debt collectors. Some people simply cannot afford to pay their growing minimum-monthly credit-card debt payment(s), as a result they begin to feel hopeless and guilty. A few on the other hand, however, realize if they get control of their guilty feelings about their credit card debt, they can begin to put their financial problems behind them. They understand they can use a proven legal strategy to make the debt collector prove the debt is owed. Denying and disputing an unsecured credit debt with a debt collector, not the original creditor, works, according to Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. This strategy forces the other side to prove their case. A credit card debt collector is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to send a statement to the consumer with the debt saying that: 1] Unless the consumer disputes the validity of the debt, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector and 2] The consumer must notify the debt collector in writing within thirty days that the debt is disputed. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also allows the consumer to notify the credit card debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt and that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer with respect to the debt. If a consumer follows this advice and refuses to admit to the credit card debt, by disputing it and denying it, and then writes to the credit card debt collector asking them to cease communications regarding the debt, that may cause the debt collector to decide to collect from other easier-to-deal-with consumers. For them to proceed with the task of recovering this debt, they will need to prove the debt exists by getting copies of original documents from the credit card company and sending them on to the consumer. For an unsecured, unsigned credit card debt, the first thing a credit card debt collector must do is to get the consumer to admit to the debt; to take ownership of it, to admit "guilt." That one exchange between the consumer and the credit card debt collector sets the tenor for the rest of the debt collection communications between the two. But, if the consumer denies and disputes the alleged debt and forbids further communications, the collector will likely move on to an easy target. DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. Matt Highlander learned how to frustrate credit card debt collectors and collection attorneys. If you cannot afford to pay, read his Credit Card Debt Survival Guide |