Fighting creditor harassment with legalities is not a 100% guarantee of winning, or even preventing credit harassment. But when legally done, at least there is a better chance of not being hassled anymore, reducing stress and financial exhaustion on the consumer's part.
Federal and state laws are available to protect consumers from creditor harassment. A major body of laws is the FDCPA, or Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This is a body of laws that the government bodies have developed in order to protect consumers from any and all abusive forms of creditor harassment practices.
The FDCPA was developed in order to protect all consumers from creditor harassment, and given the opportunity to handle their debts decently and in a civil manner. The creditor is not allowed to use threatening collection letters, continuous telephone calls, or contacting the consumer at work. If it can be proved that a creditor harassment has occurred, the FDCPA will allow the consumer to sue the debt collector for up to $1,000.00 statutory damages, plus damages of mental anguish, telephone charges, etc. in addition to attorney fees.
The FDCPA applies the consumers with protection under certain circumstances:
• It must be a consumer debt, not a business debt.
• The debt collector is not the original creditor
• FDCPA only applies to third party collection agencies
• FDCPA applies under narrow circumstances when the collector is the original creditor.
• There are very specific circumstances where FDCPA protections will not apply.
• State and Federal laws afford different protections for the consumer, with only a consumer attorney being able to determine which one is the best for the most protection.
Creditor harassment has been on the rise for the past three years, with the Federal Trade Commission receiving more complaints against debt collectors than any other industries. Many complaints include vulgar language, collecting more many than is owed, sharing improperly the debt information, attempting to collect extra fees, and threatening members of the family.
With the majority of people not recognizing their rights in regard to debt collection, most debt collectors take advantage of it. But not all of them do, with many ethical debt collectors saving the average person a fair amount of money—a savings that would have incurred with businesses raising their prices to cover the bad debts of the country. The bottom line is this, if a debt collector is unwanted tell them so with a letter. Keep the letter and records you have informed them of such, in case they are to be charged with illegal creditor harassment. Write a second letter if required, and keep records of that one also. If it contuse then hire a lawyer. Consumers do have rights against debt collectors, but many do not know this and suffer the consequences.
The bottom line is this—if a debt collector is unwanted and it is felt they are harassing, then tell them so with a proper letter. Keep the letter and records that have been made of contact with them, in case they are to be charged with illegal creditor harassment. Write a second letter if required, and keep records of that one also. If it continues then hire a lawyer. Consumers do have rights against debt collectors, but many do not know this and suffer the consequences.
When we think of the term creditor, most of us shrink at the thought of owing someone money. Used in the financial world, the term "credit" originated with a chance percentage of whether or not someone would pay back their loans or not. In the early days, a person's dependability or personal reputation had a lot to do with their ability to pay their bills on time or repay their loans. If these were not paid, the "shooster" was considered undependable and shiftless, and then ran out of town on a rail.
A creditor is typically a company or individual who a person owes money to, specifically from a past bill that has never been paid, with the creditor desiring a successful settlement negotiation in order to have the account permanently closed. Today, almost everyone owes money to someone, with the recent housing mortgage problem a prime example of it. In this case, the creditor would be the bank who actually owns the homes now being repossessed, while the debtor would be the one not able to pay for their home.
Basically, the creditor wishes to have the bill paid off or removed from their records, through any means possible. A lot depends on the way it is handled--what kind of debt it is, how long the customer has owed the bill, the financial situation of the debtor, and the type of creditor involved. Of course, the willingness of the customer to pay it off plays into this somewhere and somehow. But in the case of the mortgaged homes, the bank ends up taking the house back from the creditor, in order to recoup some of the money owed to them due because of a major inability to make monthly payments. The homeowner walks away either by choice or through forced evictions by the bank.
Making a payment plan with the creditor is part of getting a person's credit back on track, a preferable choice of both parties. And the payment plan usually does not go beyond a three or six-month pay off, and it almost always is less than the original bill was originally. If the creditor does not or cannot work out a payment plan with their money-owing customer, usually bankruptcy may occur or the bill will remain unresolved.
Most debtors or individuals who owe money know very little about bankruptcy, with the majority knowing little about finances. Additionally, bankruptcy has changed a lot in the past year or so, in comparison to filing in the past. But over the years, money issues have compounded to the point that most relationships are in serious trouble because of them—mainly due to lack of communication, as money represents different things to different people.
Another thing to remember is this, the creditor may have a list of outstanding bills that a person owes but some of the creditor's documentation may not be correct due to human or system error. The bureau can be notified in order to remove the errors, which is why it is important occasionally to obtain a free credit report to keep check on its status.
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