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Don’t Take Phone Calls from Credit Card Debt Collectors

There is little legal weight to what someone says over the telephone. The caller can say what they like with impunity. And that is why debt collectors use the telephone as their main weapon. When exchanges with consumers are done in writing, debt collectors lose their effectiveness.

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. They advise you to make an affordable token payment because they know that if you do this then you are documenting admission to the debt.

3. Debt collectors will threaten to have you arrested. 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.

Each of these lies is punishable with a $1000 fine with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

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.

If you end up taking a call from a credit card debt collector, you should only stay on long enough to find out what debt they are telephoning about. Before hanging up, advise them that you need written notice of this debt and that you will not talk about it over the phone.

You should be aware that as a consumer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you the right to write to the debt collector to instruct them to stop telephoning you. If they continue, they are breaking the law and are liable to a $1000 penalty for each call made. Consumers are advised to log each phone call to interest a specialist consumer rights attorney in suing the debt collector on a contingency fee basis.