How Real People Fight Debt Collectors - and Win - Without an Attorney!

If a debt collector calls or threatens to sue, stand up for yourself, your finances, and your rights. I have successfully stopped debt collectors from winning in court, continuing to call, and violating the law. Follow my lead, and stick it to them!

I am nobody special, just a regular working zombie who pays the bills and never seems to get ahead. And no matter how hard I try, there is never enough money to go around. Then, add in a bad economy, lost jobs, high prices, blah blah, and things went south for us real quick. My guess is that it went south for you, too, which is why you are here looking for advice on how to stop debt collectors from harassing you or garnishing what little income you have. So let me tell you what I did that worked, without any help from any attorney and no money going out of my pocket.

If ANY debt collector who isn't the ORIGINAL debtor calls you or contacts you at all, I want you to do two things. First, refuse to allow them to get one over on you. They are greedy wolves in sheep's clothing. Don't be the next victim. And second, do everything you can to beat them at their own game, in accordance with the law of course. Doing these things religiously will also protect your rights under the fair debt collections act law. Not only will this stop them from further debt collections or winning a lawsuit, but if they violate the FDCA, it is worth $1,000 per violation! That is to say, if you can find an attorney who will help you get those rewards or if you are smart enough to start your own case, of course.

Now before we get started here, it is very important for me to state that I am not an attorney. I have no legal education other than what I have read online. The law says that I have to tell you that this article is not to be taken as legal advice since I am not an attorney.

But what I can tell you is that I am an average Jane Smith citizen, like you, who is getting harassed by third party debt collectors. And I got sick of it. I took things into my own hands, read all I could find, then tried the techniques on the losers when they would call me, or worse, try to sue my husband. So what I have listed in this article is based on what I have learned, what I have tried, and the fact that it worked for me and my husband both. My guess is, it would work for you, too.

So, without further delay, here are the BASIC steps that you should take to secure your BASIC rights under the law. Follow these tips to the letter, and you should be well on your way to avoiding any wage garnishments, judgements against you, tax liens, or seizure of property. Failing to follow even one of these might leave a big gaping hole that the rent-a-lawyers from the collection agency will use against you. So in other words, don't slack off!

1. Immediately write a response to every letter and send it by certified mail to the company, with the little green post card on the back with signature required. Say in the letter the following: "I dispute the validity of this debt. Please provide me the following information: proof that you own the debt and/or proof that you are collecting on the behalf of the original creditor, a signed and complete bill of sale or purchase order showing my account number, my name, and my amount, a detailed list of all charges on the account to substantiate that the amount you say I owe is correct, and please stop all communications until and unless you can substantiate your right to collect this debt from me in this amount and in this manner."

2. If possible, record all phone calls. Try putting your phone on speaker phone and using a digital camera that takes videos to record the conversation. You can also use a digital recorder or even an old tape recorder if you want, so long as the phone is on speaker. In the majority of cases, the "representatives" will belittle you, threaten, chastise, use scare tactics, or do all sorts of things to make you "agree" to pay them. Every time they do, they violated the law, and you are due $1,000. Having a big arsenal of violations on your side is a sheer deterent for further collection efforts, let me tell you!!!!

3. Make and keep copies of everything, from letters they send you to letters you send them. Also be sure to keep the green returned post cards with signatures. The better paper trail you have, the more evidence will be available when and IF they try to sue you.

4. If you talk to them, never EVER admit that you owe THEM the money. Its okay to say you owe your original debtor, so long as you don't say you owe the amount. Usually the collector has added tons of money to what you really owe, thinking you won't question it. Just keep on saying that you want validation of the debt and proof that they bought the debt/collect on the behalf of the original creditor. Trust me, they usually can't provide it.

5. Expect them to threaten law suits over and over. A typical conversation will go something like this:

"This is Bob Loser from XYZ law firm (remember its not a REAL law firm, in the traditional sense of the word, but a collection agency that hires lawyers to sue on accounts) calling for Carrie Customer. Are you Carrie? Great. Let me first verify your information. Is the last for of your social 0000? And your birthdate 01-01-01? Good. And are you still living at 123 Dinglehopper street? Good. Well, Carrie, I am calling you today about your Wasteofmoney Visa card. Our law firm has been retained by the client to contact you about this debt. I am not a lawyer, I just work for the lawyer who is handling your case. We are calling today to see how you plan to resolve this debt."

You will respond with something like, "Well, I have already written numerous letters to your company about this debt and I am in regular communications about it. So far, nobody has provided me the validation of the debt, in writing, that I have requested. I asked in those letters that collection efforts cease until this validation is received, in writing, sent by letter. So why are you calling me?"

From this point, you will go back and forth with the representative saying all sorts of things to you and against you, your character, your "responsibility" for the bills, etc. Just keep your cool and keep on repeating that you need validation of the debt. They might tell you that they don't have to provide this paperwork, that they are going to sue you, that you will be subpoenaed at work, or a host of other things. Just remember, every time they make these statements, it is another violation of your rights, and another mark on the chalkboard in your favor.

6. Do not, and I repeat, do NOT accept a faxed copy or an emailed copy of anything. Tell them that, according to your rights under the law, they must provide you with a hard copy of the validation. When it comes to faxed and emailed copies, there is no "proof" that you received anything.

7. Carefully examine all documents that are "supposedly" validation of debt. Some documents will be inaccurate, missing critical information, or outright forgeries/lies.

I had one debt collector law firm send me a supposed bill of sale/purchase order, signed by the original company's Vice President. I did the research... this person is the VP, this is true, but he is way too busy to sign off on my 500 dollar debt. Also, he had left the company some seven years prior to the signing of this document. Hmmmm. In addition, this purchase order was a cover letter only, saying that X company sold Y company the accounts listed "herein", but there is no other information about what those accounts are, nor anything that says my account was in the batch.

I also got another document, this time signed and notarized, by some secretary that says she knows that my account was purchased from X company on so and so date. So guess what... I called her. Yeah, that's right, I just flat out got her on the phone. I told her who I was and why I was calling. Not only did she have no clue who I was, she told me, "I sign those things all the time. It just means that I got the purchase orders. I don't have the time to read and remember every one of the accounts on them."

I have also read on the Internet about other collection agencies forging people's names on documents, especially copies of a so-called "original" contract. Be careful about this. If the signature looks too perfect, choppy, or just doesn't seem right, don't let this fact slip through your radar or be forgotten.

Other companies may try to claim that they have this original, signed contract on file, when you know that you never signed anything, such as in cases where you entered into the contract online. In those instances, there is no official signature, only a check mark or something to that effect. But let them continue to ramble on, telling you that they have this document. Let them send you a copy, too. It will be just one more piece of evidence against the debt collector when, and if, a court case does arise.

8. If you do get sued, do not neglect your court date. Yes, it is hard to get off of work, and yes, the lost wages may hurt, but it is well worth it. Be sure that you show up, even for the initial or time line hearings. Sometimes these so called law firms will have one time line hearing after another, and then suddenly in one of them ask for a motion for judgment. If you aren't there on that day, you're out of luck. So be sure to go to court, for EVERY hearing, no matter if they tell you its not important or not.

In the case with my husband, the "law firm" held four time line hearings. On the fourth hearing they didn't show up. We were there. We told the judge that this company has no proof whatsoever that we owe the debt, nor have they provided any validation even though we repeatedly asked for it. The judge dismissed the case.

If you continue to attend every time line hearing and nothing is officially resolved, eventually the case will move into an official hearing. At this point, you will be able to show all of the copied letters, proof that they continued to attempt to collect (especially as evidenced by their court hearing), and recordings of conversations. Show the judge how they continue to violate your rights under the law, told you lies, gave false documents, and still could not prove that they are the rightful recipient of your money. With this, guess what... your case will (in most cases) be dismissed!

9. This step is totally optional. It will not help you stop debt collectors, but it will help you to get a little bit of legal revenge. If you are able, you can turn the tables on the hateful debt collectors. making them pay you rather than the other way around. Now this will involve either a debt attorney who is working for you or a fair amount of intelligence/knowledge of the law. In any case, if you have followed the steps above, you will soon have a big stack of evidence that your rights are being violated. You now have the right to sue the debt collector for violation of these rights. Not only can you recover the $1,000 per violation as allowed in the law, but you can also recover lost wages from when you took off of work to come to their non-provable court case, mileage expenditures, babysitting fees, damage to your credit report (and trust me, they've damaged it), and other things that your attorney will disclose.

Most collection agencies dread a hearing like this, so they will want to settle out of court. You might not get the full amount you are asking for, but you will get at least a nice chunk of change. Don't agree to simply "cancel the debt." Remember, they never provided proof that you owed the debt to begin with, so why let them cancel out something you didn't owe? At least to them, anyway? Do try to get at least the amount of money you would need to recover your losses, such as the lost wages, plus enough to repay whatever the debt might be. Then, when you get the money, contact your original creditor for a pay-off amount.

FINAL THOUGHT: The bottom line is this: Yes, you may owe a debt, but the amount is questionable. Debt collectors are calling you, trying to get you to pay a debt in whatever amount they say you owe, with no proof that you owe it or that you owe them.

Its like some stranger coming up to you out of the blue and saying, "Hey, give me your money," and you say, "Okay, sure" and hand it over. How ridiculous is that? This is exactly what is happening when a debt collector calls you and you succumb to their scare tactics.

Now that you know how to stand up for yourself, get out there and do something about it! Record everything, show up for court if you're sued, and keep your duckies in a row. And, if my advice and experiences have helped you in any way, of if you have more advice to share based on your personal experiences, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Sources:

What I have learned from dealing with shady third party debt collectors

Some useful websites I found with great information:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm
http://www.reportcollectionabuse.com/
http://www.pleasestopcalling.com/
http://www.debthelplawyers.com/sue-debt-collectors.html
http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-fight-debt-collectors.html
http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20030519c1.asp

My list of sources could go on and on forever, because there is lots of great information out there for anyone who wants to fight a debt collector, stop debt collection calls, stop the harassing debt collection practices, ect.