Dealing with Debt Collectors

Being harassed by debt collectors while eating dinner with your family can certainly be annoying. The endless phone calls and intimidating letters threatening legal action can certainly make life stressful; however, there are ways that you can deal with creditors to make your life less stressful again.

The Fair Debt Collection Practice Act, http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm#801, establishes rules for what is allowed in the collecting of outstanding debts. It is not allowed for a creditor to call before 8am or after 9pm. They cannot threaten you with having your wages garnished if it's not lawful to do so in your state and they also cannot continue to call you and harass you once you ask them to cease calling.

If they continue to call after you ask them to stop you have several options. You can use your callerid or answering machine system to screen your calls and not answer calls from them. Also, if you have a callerid blocking service you may be able to block calls from them completely. You can also choose to answer the call and inform the agency that you wish for them to stop calling you and that they are obligated to stop calling you.

The most effective way to get creditors to stop harassing you though is to payoff the outstanding accounts. You took the credit and are morally obligated to pay the debt holder. If you do not have the financial means to pay your debts you should try to negotiate a payment schedule with the creditor. If you make an attempt to pay the debt and make an arrangement the calls should stop. They will move on and harass other people with debts once you make an arrangement.

During the process of trying to handle your outstanding accounts you should keep records of which agencies you talk to as well as any agreements that you discuss with them. If it's legal to record calls in your state you may wish to do so. This can be very helpful in getting a creditor to stick with any deals that you negotiate with them.

As most debt collectors work on commission they are willing to negotiate for lower amounts than what you actually owe on the account. Getting something from you in many cases is better than getting nothing. You should insist to them also that upon any payments that they promptly notify the credit bureaus.

Get any agreements in writing before sending money to the agencies and remember that patience and a bit of creativity during the discussions will go a long way in easing the burden that your debts impose upon you.

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