3 Collection Laws that Bill Collectors Break the Most

The fact that us citizens of the United States are dealing with a bad economy is no secret. More people are in debt nowadays than you can imagine. Companies are suffering all across the country and are doing whatever they have to do to stay above water. In some cases, this means that legitimate companies are practicing illegal techniques to stay profitable. Finance companies are the worst with their ridiculous policies that are just causing citizens to pileup more debt, and in turn making the economy worse. Having worked at a finance company in the collections department for several years, I realize that most citizens don't know when these finance companies are breaking the collection laws, and that there is something that they can do about it which will cause these finance companies to back off. I'm not going to give a full rundown of the FDCPA laws, but I'm going to go over the basic ones that collection companies break the most.

We all hate when collectors call us 20 times a day. They actually can call you as many times as they want to between the hours of 8 AM and 9 PM, as long as they haven't spoken with you. What they cannot do is leave you more than one message at each number per day. They can leave one message on your cell phone, one on your house phone, and one at your employer, if your employer allows those types of phone calls. That's it. If you do receive more than one message from them at a single number on the same day, that's breaking the law and you should record and report it.

The next thing that collectors do that they are not supposed to do, is share information about your debt with anyone other than yourself. Even if the person they're speaking to asks the collector what the phone call is about, they cannot disclose that it is regarding a debt. Doing so is called third party disclosure. Now, a spouse is an exception to the rule, but that's it. A lot of times you'll speak to a collector and you won't tell them what they want to hear, so instead of arguing, you end the call with them. Then they call you back and leave you a nasty detailed message on your voice mail. This can also fall under third party disclosure because the collector never really knows who checks your voice mail unless you tell them. Most of the time they will just assume that you are the only one who checks it. A personal cell phone is an exception but under no circumstances should a collector be leaving you unprofessional, nasty messages.

Legally, a collector is not supposed to threaten you with the word repossession. All collection companies record their calls because by law they have to. So if you've ever been threatened in this manner, it has been recorded. You may want to keep your own recordings for your protection, but in the court of law if they do not have the call recorded, it will take tremendous credibility away from them. As always, you need to make sure that you make your best efforts in all debt situations so that you have credibility yourself.

These are the most common laws that collectors fail to follow when attempting to collect a debt from you. If you feel that you're being harassed by a collection company, the easiest way to stop their harassment is by sending them a cease and assist letter. A cease and assist letter is basically a letter stating that you are requesting that they not contact you via phone, and that the only way that they can contact you this through the mail. Regardless of what a collector may tell you, they have to honor your cease and assist letter. In any case where a collection company has failed to follow the collection laws, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or get an attorney. I've seen situations where the persons debts were canceled after they took a finance company to court for not following the collection laws. Filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau will cause them to be fined and in some cases investigated. In all cases protect yourself, because chances are the finance company is getting over on you anyway. Before you do anything, make sure you check what the FDCPA laws are in your state.