Debt Collectors vs. Payday Loans | The War On American Consumers

Debt Collectors | The War On American Consumers Part 1

Burdened by debt collectors? Know your rights.

Apart from the war in Iraq and the global war on terror, there is a new war that is being fought by Americans today. The war against consumers, who have payday loans in their arsenal to fight off a temporary expense.

We are all aware of the current credit crunch and mortgage crisis that our country is enduring. Consumers who were already over extended financially with their creditors just a few months ago, are now falling delinquent on their payments or defaulting on their loans.

This has given money driven collection agencies a window of opportunity to make extraordinary profits depending on their ability to collect on these debts.

Financially strained consumers have been emotionally attacked by these agencies in pursuit of these debts. Verbally abusing debtors with profanity and threats of jail time or imprisonment are among such attacks. One woman recently committed suicide. The note she left behind explained that she could not deal with the pressure brought upon her by her outstanding debts and did not want to go to jail.

Clearly this type of verbal harassment is neither professional or permitted under law. Just because you have defaulted on your debts does not give anyone the right to treat you inappropriately. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires debt collectors to treat consumers fairly and forbids obscene and inappropriate methods for collecting debts, which most payday loans lenders rigidly adhere to.

Knowing your rights

Although a collector has the right to collect a debt that you are responsible for paying, there are boundaries that they have to stay within. If you are currently being harassed you should know what these boundaries are because failure on the part of the debt collector to stay within these boundaries, may open a door in your favor.

Permitted Contact

A debt collector may contact you by mail, by telephone, telegram, or fax but they are not permitted to contact you at times or places which are inconvenient for you unless you agree.

Collectors may also contact your place of work unless your employer does not permit such calls. Although they may contact other known acquaintances or yours, they are not permitted to slander your character or disclose any information in regards to your debt.

If you do not wish to be contacted by the collector you can notify them in writing. By law they will have to adhere to your request and again, cease contacting you except for to confirm the very request which you have made. This request will not make void your debt as you could eventually be sued, but they will have to stop the ongoing contact and or harassment.

If you have become a victim of identity theft the collector may be trying to collect a debt that is not yours. If this is the case you can write a letter telling them the debt is not yours and they will have to cease contact except to confirm your request, or to send proof that the debt is indeed yours.

If identity theft has occurred, it is very likely that the creditor will have compelling proof that your identity was stolen. You may then have to send in an Identity Theft Affidavit. You can read more about how to acquire such an Affidavit or fraud report in another blog article called “Identity Theft | Protecting Yourself From Your Evil Twin“.

If you have chosen to get an attorney, the attorney must be contacted by the creditor. The debt collector has no right to contact you personally once you have assigned yourself representation, which can be worth getting payday loans to have on retainer.

The collector is also responsible for sending you a written notice detailing the debt you are believed to owe and to whom you owe it. This should be done within five days after contact.

Knowing you have rights is the first part of dealing with your collectors. We will continue this discussion more tomorrow in “Debt Collectors | The War On American Consumers Part 2″