Debt collectors and debt

Debt collectors’ is a dreaded community for all those credit defaulters out there. However, there is some succor in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which regulates debt collectors and safeguards you from misconduct on their part. It ensures that debt collectors handle the debtors fairly and act within the ambit of law. Nevertheless, do not think that the Act will help you find a way around your legitimate dues.

You are a debtor if you default in reimbursing your credit card dues, fail to repay a personal loan, are paying on a home mortgage or have failed to pay for bills or accounts, to name some. When you become a debtor, a debt collector (generally attorneys) takes the responsibility to collect the debts you legally owe to the creditors.
Debt collectors can contact you in the following ways:

• Personally
• Via mail
• Telephone
• Telegram
• Fax

Debt collectors however must contact you at a time and place that is convenient to you. For instance, the collector must not get in touch with at work if it is not suitable to you.

You can also write a letter to debt collectors to stop contacting you. Thereafter, they can contact you again only to let you know you about what steps they plan to take next. However, be sure that such a letter does not mean that you have been relieved of your debts or you legally obligation to settle them. In fact, if you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact the attorney and not you. Otherwise, the debt collector can get in touch with other people to get information about:

• Where you live
• Your phone number
• Where you are employed

However, the collector may not contact other people more than once.

Kinds of debts covered under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act are:

• Personal
• Family
• Household debts

Some examples are:

• Outstanding amounts of an automobile loan
• Dues on medical loan
• Dues for charge accounts

The prohibitions on debt collections are:

• Harassment
• Coercion
• Ill-treatment
• Intimidation
• Publishing names of those who refuse to pay up (except to a credit bureau)
• Using abusive language
• Repeatedly telephoning and harassing debtors
• Issuing false statements to coerce debtors to pay up
• Indulge in unfair practices to collect the debts

If debt collectors violate any of the stipules of the laws, which govern them, you can take legal action in a state or federal court within a year from the date the law was violated. If you win the case, you may get a compensation for the damages you endured along with an additional sum of up to $1,000. You can also claim court expenditures and attorney's payments. In certain cases, you can also prosecute a debt collector and claim indemnity of the lesser of up to $500,000 or one percent of the collector's net worth. Your can lodge complaints against debt collectors at the Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission.