The idea of owing money can be troublesome for many. After all, some people are just plain uncomfortable with the notion of being in debt and not having enough income to pay all of their bills. And what tends to make matters worse is the method in which most debt collectors are trained to operate.
Anyone who’s ever been harassed by a creditor or debt collection agency before will no doubt agree that some of the tactics used to recoup funds involve truly hitting below the belt. While some collection agencies are certainly more aggressive than others, on a whole, debt collectors seem to have gotten a bad name for themselves on the personal courtesy front. Of course, it’s understandable that a company would want to collect on legitimate debts, but that doesn’t mean that its collections department or agency is justified in calling up those who owe money at all hours of the day and hunting down family members in an attempt to recover some cash. And while some creditors do make it a practice to play by the rules, others tend to consistently cross the line, thereby causing those in debt (and in some cases, their family members) an undue amount of grief.
If your creditors have been abusive in their debt collection practices and have caused you a considerable amount of stress in the process, then you should know that you do have options. Thanks to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you can take action in the event that a creditor oversteps his bounds or feeds you false information regarding your debt situation. Darren Hojnacki of the Atlanta-based firm Hojnacki & Hojnacki, LLC is a bankruptcy attorney who has been helping clients manage and settle their debts for the past three years, and according to him, just because a person owes money does not mean that he deserves to be harassed or treated poorly. He therefore likes to encourage his clients to explore their rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The purpose of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is to set forth guidelines for the collection of debts and provide those who owe money with certain remedies in the event that their creditors fail to follow the rules. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was put into effect when it became apparent that collection agencies were abusing the system and driving more and more individuals to file for bankruptcy to avoid creditor mistreatment. The great thing about this act is that it essentially prohibits creditors from acting offensively when dealing with those in debt. This includes threatening people who owe money, using foul or distasteful language when speaking to debtors, and making collection calls at unreasonable hours. The act also forbids collection agencies to provide false information to those in debt with respect to both amounts owed and available creditor remedies.
While some collection agencies do a better job than others at following the guidelines as outlined by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, those who choose to violate the rules might find themselves in legal hot water if a debtor decides to take action. If a collection agency fails to follow the law when speaking with you about an unpaid debt, then you, as an individual, have every right to file a lawsuit against it within one year from the date of the violation. And if the agency in question is found to have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, then you could end up walking away with a monetary settlement as a result.
While you’d think that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act might prompt more debt collectors to play by the rules, the fact of the matter is that many agencies still choose to operate under the assumption that individual debtors are less than likely to fight back. Therefore, if you happen to become a victim of creditor abuse, then you should know that you do have the option to retaliate. If a collection agency employee threatens you, calls you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., or tells you that a police officer is on his way to arrest you when this clearly isn’t the case, then you ought to consider taking action by filing a lawsuit. Even if you’d rather not go this route, you can still, at the very least, hire an attorney to represent you for debt settlement purposes. In fact, by doing so, you’ll gain the right to instruct your creditors to refer all matters of collection to your attorney directly, and any failure on their part to abide by such instructions could be grounds for a lawsuit. Remember, just because you happen to owe some money doesn’t mean that you deserve to be mistreated by your creditors.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
