How to Stop Those Aggressive Debt Collectors

If you are a victim of identity theft, it is possible that someone might have used your identity to get new credit. This fraudulent credit will not be repaid and collection agencies will start calling you for money once it is overdue. It is really a sickening situation where you are threatened for no fault of your own.
There is one law to protect you in such a situation. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can be of help to you. Here is how you can sort out unfair attempts of debt collection agencies -

1. When a debt collection agency starts threatening you about such unknown debt, you should immediately write a letter to them asking them to stop following you. You should tell them not to contact you further. They can contact you only for two reasons - either they want to tell you that they will not contact you again or if they are taking any further action for collection. Your letter must be written within 30 days from the date on which you came to know about this debt. You should clearly let them know that you are a victim of identity theft and you don't owe them anything.

2. You should also attach some evidence in support of your claim. If you send them evidence, it will be easy to sort the matter out. If you do not have any evidence, at least you should file a police complaint and a copy of such complaint should be attached to your letter to the collection agency.

3. If you do not have any evidence, you should also ask the collection agency to send you the evidence which they have. You can use this evidence against them later.

4. Once you deal successfully with the collection agency, you should contact the creditor who has appointed this collection agency. You should find out the nature of your debt and try to sort out the problem with that creditor. At least you can tell the creditor not to go ahead with the collection efforts as you are disputing the claim as fraudulent. The collection agency will also inform to the creditor but the creditor will stop collection efforts only after your communication confirming the dues as fraud.

While communicating with both the collection agency and the creditor, you should be specific about the fraud. This will at least stop be enormous penalties and fees which the creditor will continue to charge. Always preserve whatever evidence you have with you. This will be useful if any question is raised any time in the future.