Don’t Take Phone Calls from Credit Card Debt Collectors

Telephone calls have no legal weight since there is no record of what was said on a call. Knowing this, credit card debt collectors will say threatening things on the phone and get away with telling their lies. That is why consumer debt collectors choose to use the phone over mail. Debt collectors lose their power when communications are reduced to writing.

What matters in court are the written communications, or the lack of them, between a consumer and a credit card debt collector. Mail sent certified return receipt requested further helps the consumer put the debt collector on the defensive.

Over the telephone credit card debt collectors lie a great deal. These are some of those lies:

1. They claim you are the target of a lawsuit in your local court and that you’ll get your summons any day.

2. Or they may ask you for a small payment, which is well within your means – surely that is acceptable? Not so, if you make this payment then you have legally documented admission to the debt, and made things worse.

3. They tell you you may be arrested, knowing no one can be arrested for a civil matter.

4. They tell you money will be taken from your weekly earnings.

5. They tell you they can seize your bank account.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is violated by each of these threats.

Credit card debt collectors use the phone attempting to get personal details such as your bank account number, Social Security number, and work number, as well as getting you to confirm your credit card number and admit to the debt in question. The Credit Card Debt Survival Guide advises that you should never share any personal information with people on the telephone, as they could be anyone, and that you should always dispute and deny the debt to which they are referring and hang up the phone.

Curiosity should be the only reason for taking one of these calls. If a credit card debt collector calls out of the cold, let them tell you what debt they are calling about, then tell them you have received no written notice from them about the debt and hang up.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows the consumer to instruct the debt collector in writing to stop all collection calls. After that each call is a violation of the law, and subject to a $1000 penalty. Consumers should keep logs of the phone calls and contact a consumer rights attorney, who may agree to sue the credit card debt collector over these violations on a contingency fee basis.

Matt Highlander learned how to frustrate credit card debt collectors and collection attorneys. If you cannot afford to pay, read his Credit Card Debt Survival Guide