You probably won’t be surprised to hear that more complaints are lodged against debt collectors than any other kind of business. But the actual number of complaints filed may give you pause: according to the Federal Trade Commission, 78,838 people made formal complaints about debt collectors in 2008.

More and more consumers are falling behind on their bills and turning to online loans and cash advances to help stretch the budget between paydays. Naturally, the collections industry is working harder than ever to collect those unpaid debts.

And debt collectors aren’t just calling and mailing. They’re using technology like social networking sites and cell-phone texting to get people to pay.

Don’t make friends with debt collectors

A recent article on CNNMoney, describes an incident where a foreign debt collection company used a picture of an attractive woman to befriend a debtor on Facebook, the social networking site. Acting as a “faux friend” allows a debt collector to monitor your updates and keep tabs on anything you might mention online about your assets, finances, or purchases.

Read up on debt collection laws

There are strict federal laws about what debt collectors can and cannot do to try to collect debts. They must identify themselves as debt collectors. They cannot harass you or talk about your debt to anyone but you or your attorney. They cannot call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. They cannot threaten to sue you if they don’t have any intention to do so. They cannot misrepresent the amount you owe.

Find out about statutes of limitation

In every state there are statutes of limitation prescribing time periods after which a creditor can no longer sue you to collect a debt. Applicable limitation periods vary from state to state, but are generally in the range of three to six years. When the limitation period passes, you still owe the debt, but the creditor can no longer sue you to collect it. The only actions that will erase your obligation to pay a debt are cancellation of the debt by the creditor, discharge of the debt in bankruptcy, or payment of the debt.

Get legal advice

Because you still owe the debt, debt collectors don’t have to stop trying to collect just because the time has passed for filing a lawsuit. They can no longer sue you, but short of a lawsuit they can still try to get you pay up. As a practical matter, they debt collectors will stop bothering you once the limitation period passes, but they don’t have to.

If you are being hounded by collectors about old debts, it may be worth getting advice from an attorney who practices in your state. If the limitation periods have passed, telling a collector that you know they can no longer sue may be all it takes to make them go away.

Don’t jump into bankruptcy

Sometimes people file bankruptcy in order to get creditors to stop calling them. But this may be an unnecessary – not to mention expensive and complicated – reaction to pressure from debt collectors.

Before you think about filing bankruptcy, write letters to the debt collectors demanding that they cease contacting you. Send them by certified mail and pay for a return receipt so you know when they are received.

Once your letter is received, a debt collector can no longer contact you except to confirm that they won’t contact you anymore or to advise you that they are taking collection action against you.

Get Legal Advice

It’s usually not difficult to get a debt collector to stop contacting you. But remember: the fact that the collector has stopped contacting you doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t still owe the debt. On the other hand, don’t be shy about demanding that collectors leave you alone. Creditor-and-debtor law is rife with legal defenses and the fact that a collector is hounding you doesn’t necessarily mean that you owe the debt.

If you’re having problems with debt collectors and you have any doubt about whether you owe the debt or how much you owe, don’t just throw money at the collectors to get them to go away. Spend the money instead on good legal advice.

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″

Part III, “The FTC, LPD, & You | Pillars of Protection When Identity Theft Strikes“, we talked about the immediate procedures that need to be taken with the local and federal authorities, to protect yourself as well as to help nail your assailant.

Today we are going to focus more on addressing the specific damage that has been done to the various accounts which have been compromised.

Credit and Debit Accounts

Dealing with the fallout from identity theft is tedious but necessary.

All credit card and or debit accounts that have been affected need to be immediately notified. Notify first by a phone call to put a stop to any further transactions from taking place, but also you will need to follow up your phone request with a letter or statement explaining your circumstances. You will most likely be asked to include a copy of your fraud affidavit or identity theft report and explained in the part three of this series.

Be sure to send this to the appropriate mailing address as it will differ from the address that you send your monthly payments to.

You will also want want to request new cards be sent to you. Don’t forget to change the passwords to your accounts as well. Remember, these passwords should not be chosen after things such as birthdays, maiden names, pet names, social security numbers etc. Choose a password that is random and unrelated to you. This may be harder to remember but will be the most secure.

Dealing with Debt Collectors

Depending on the amount of time that elapses before you discover that you have become a victim of identity fraud, you may start receiving calls from debt collectors requesting payment on the debts that your opposition has acquired on your behalf.

Debt collectors can be relentless in their pursuit of delinquent funds and it is easy to become agitated and quickly frustrated with these individuals. What you will need to do is politely tell the collector that is calling, that you have become a victim of Identity fraud and collect any and all necessary information regarding the debt. This would include things such as the following,

1. Name and contact information for the issuer of the now delinquent account
2. The amount of the debt,
3. The account number
4. Dates of the the charges

Ask the debt collector if they will need a copy of your identity theft report or fraud affidavit. You will also want to follow up by writing to the debt collection agency explaining your situation in detail and ask that they confirm in writing that you do not owe the debt in question and that the account has been closed. Having this in writing is important if you need to clear up credit discrepancies on your report with new creditors before the bureaus remove the mark on your report.

Stolen Checks and Fraudulent Banking Activities

In the event that the identity thief has set up fraudulent bank accounts in your name and issued themselves checks to use at their leisure, you will want to be sure to have your bank report it to ChexSystems. ChexSystems is defined by Wikepedia as follows,

ChexSystems is a check verification service and consumer credit reporting agency like Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. While most credit reporting agencies broker data about how a consumer handles credit relationships, ChexSystems provides data related to how a consumer has handled deposit accounts at banking institutions.

Be sure to place a security alert on your ChexSystems file. The contact information is below. This works much like the security alert we spoke of placing on the Credit Bureaus earlier in this series. Close any and all banking accounts that you expect to be compromised or are compromised already. After stopping payments on all checks that you have not been able to account for you will once again have to set up new accounts and passwords. Here is the Check Systems contact information.

• Phone: (800) 428-9623. Fax: (602) 659-2197
• Web: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/index.htm
• To place a security alert on your ChexSystems report: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/chexsystems/theftaffidavit/index.htm Write: ChexSystems Inc., Attn: Consumer Relations, 7805 Hudson Rd., Suite 100, Woodbury, MN 55125.

Many times victims of identity theft don’t realize that they have become victims until the stores where they shop begin refusing there checks. This usually means that Chexsystems and the other major check verification companies have your account flagged for fraudulent activity.

Fortunately under new federal law, you as a consumer can obtain a free report once a year from each of these check verification companies just as with the credit bureaus. The information for each of the major verifications services is listed below.

Fidelity National Information Services

No one is immune! Regularly checking your credit reports can minimize your risk greatly.

(was Certegy)(800) 437-5120
www.fidelityinfoservices.com

SCAN

(800) 262-7771
www.consumerdebit.com

TeleCheck

For annual file disclosure
Fraud, id theft department
(800) 366-2425
(800) 835-3243
(800) 710-9898
www.telecheck.com

CrossCheck

(800) 843-0760
www.cross-check.com

Although, you can’t eliminate your risk of identity theft completely, you can substantially reduce the damage resulting from identity theft by keeping a close eye on your credit and check service reports. This will allow you to identify fraudulent activity earlier and limit your liability.