The Truth About Debt Relief

Harassment as defined by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies to all creditors even if they tell you they don’t. They are also liable under the Telephone Solicitations Act and under the criminal statutes regarding harassing and threatening telephone communications.

If you are inundated with calls from collectors, the first thing to know is that you never want to discuss the account that they are calling about.

When you do receive one of these calls you’ll want to obtain the following information:

• Caller’s Full Name
• Caller’s Mailing Address
• Caller’s Phone Number

Make sure that you also note the date and time next to each call.

You will never, never, never give out any information about yourself to the caller – not your address, phone number, banking information, social security information, driver’s license number - nothing. Do not verify the accuracy or inaccuracy of any information they ask about.

What information they don’t have is their problem.

After you’ve written the above information in your phone log, inform the caller that the conversation is being recorded. Inform them that they have the right to remain silent and that anything they say may be used against them in a court of law. Expect them to end the call at that point, but be prepared to continue to explain that you do not want to receive any more calls from this organization and that any further calls will constitute harassment and a class 1 misdemeanor under state law.
Explain that if anyone calls you again from this organization, you will hold the caller personally responsible and file a written complaint for telephone harassment against them, individually, with the state attorney general’s office.

Next, inform the caller that you are requesting a validation of the disputed account. Never indicate that you refuse to pay and again, do not discuss anything specific about the account.
Next, request a copy of their “do not call policy” as required by the Federal Telephone Solicitations Act.

Next, send the collector the request for validation. This procedure stops about 99% of all unwanted phone calls no matter what the reason for the call.

Rarely will you have a collector who thinks that the law does not apply to them. If you receive another call from that collector’s company, you can pursue the complaint to the attorney general’s office, but there is one more thing you can do that is usually more effective.

Debt collectors and creditors calling to collect from you are trying to make a sale, just like with any other sales call. Legally, a collection call is considered soliciting. They are selling you on the benefits of paying them what they say you owe. In return they promise to stop harassing you, quit making any more claims on your credit history and/or not suing you. Consequently, the callers are monitored for their productivity. A call without a “sale” (your verbal commitment to make payments) is not productive and they might call you again. However, a call without a sale that substantially exceeds the average call time for most calls of this nature will result in your account being placed on the “do not call” list or listed as “uncollectible,” in which case you will no longer receive any calls.
This will be time consuming for you but it works very well and can be fun. Your objective is to keep the caller on the phone for as long as possible. The trick is to never discuss the collection account and make it appear as if you are sincere.

Talk about American Idol, politics, collection laws, the evil banking system and your political opinion about the Federal Reserve Board. Talk as if you are not listening to them, or that you are not smart enough to address their specific questions.

For example,

Caller: “Sir, I need to know when you intend on paying this bill.”
You: “You people are all the same, you called me last week. You know, this banking system has to go, it’s nothing but evil.”

It does not really matter what you say, but make sure you avoid discussing the collection account , do not give any payment information, do not make any commitments to pay, and, most of all, sound sincere.

If it sounds like the caller is going to end the call, ask for a supervisor. This should double the call time, in many cases.

If this doesn’t work, contact their company in writing.

If that doesn’t stop the calls write to your state attorney general’s office.

Click here for samples of both letters.

You may be able to file the complaint with the attorney general’s office via the internet. Just do a keyword search under your state’s name, and “attorney general”.

Filed under: Debt Negotiation and Debt Settlement