Creditor Harassment

Creditor Harassment

 

When things are bad in your financial world, chances are that you are behind on your bills.  When you are behind on your bills, creditors will call and write you in an attempt to collect from you.  Sometimes creditors seem to take their collection antics a little too far.  That being said, you are probably wondering what the creditors are allowed and not allowed to do in order to collect on a debt.  Here is a list of the things that creditors CAN and CAN NOT do when trying to collect a debt from you.

 

What Creditors Can and Can't Do to Collect From You

  1. A creditor may contact friends, family or employer to find your whereabouts. He cannot say that you owe any debts, nor imply that he is a debt collection agency in any way. If the consumer is represented by an attorney, he then cannot contact anyone but that attorney.
  2. A Creditor may only call within the hours of 8 am and 9pm YOUR TIME.
  3. A Creditor cannot call your work if you've notified them that you cannot receive calls at work.
  4. You can request in writing that the creditor no longer contact you. once you've done this, they can contact you for two reasons: To let you know they've given up on collecting or for notifications of special actions, judgments or other "remedies."
  5. A creditor may not "harass, oppress, or abuse" you in regards to collecting a debt. This includes threats of physical harm, reputation, foul language or simply to just annoy until you pay.
  6. Your Creditor may not publish you as a person who doesn't pay their debt in any way, shape or form.
  7. A creditor may not misrepresent themselves as a government agent, state agent, credit bureau agent, attorney or any other person with "real" collection power. They cannot imprison or arrest you for not paying your debt. Only the Government can do that.
  8. A creditor can only charge interest and fees allowed by law. They also cannot charge you for communication expenses with a misrepresented purpose.
  9. A creditor may take judicial action, and if the courts see fit, garnish wages or personal property. This is done only through the court systems, so make sure that all documents you receive are official and not a creditor "trick."