If you have an uncollected judgment against you from a previous foreclosure, credit card, car loan, personal loan, or similar situation, then whichever collection agency owns the debt can try to collect. Determining that they own the debt and have the right to collect it from you is quite a bit more difficult than it would appear. But of course, this problem does little to prevent collection agencies from calling all day.
The best you can try and do is tell them not to call you anymore. They will have to abide by your demand not to be called, as that is a federal law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states that any communication with a debtor made after the collection agency has been told not to send further communication will be a violation of the Act.
You can also try and have the judgment vacated (or reversed, voided) through the original court. If you were never served with the lawsuit paperwork, then you may have a defense. If the plaintiff violated laws to get the judgment against you, you may have another defense. If the collection agency keeps contacting you after you tell them not to, you may have even another defense.
Of course, depending on the court, the judge, and the collection agency's attorneys, this may go nowhere and you will just be shot down and the motion to vacate denied. But it costs almost nothing to file the motion and you might get lucky and have the judgment voided immediately. Tactics such as these will also show the collection agency that you are serious about defending the debt and it may cost them more to pursue you than they can ever hope to collect.
If you have a judgment against you or just a lot of debts in collections, you should start by researching your options to settle debt, validate debt, and have the judgment vacated. Applicable federal laws are the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Look them up, read some plain-English explanations for them, and see what your options are. These laws may also be used as defenses in an effort to stop foreclosure, depending on the circumstances of the case.
But to begin with you can tell the collection agency right away that you do not want to receive calls from them all day anymore. The company will have to stop calling you, or run the risk of being sued themselves. And they would not want you filing complaints with the state attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for harassment, would they?
Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to take a foreclosure, credit card judgment, medical bills, other collection attempts, harassing phone calls, and an illegitimate debt lying down. Defend them, make the creditor prove that it owns that debt and is owed that debt, and make it as huge a problem for them to deal with you as you are having dealing with them. When collection agencies know that it will cost them more to go after you than they can hope to receive, they may be willing to settle with you or give up.
When you hear about collection agencies, do you think about commercials like the one in which someone is avoiding the phone because they're dealing with a mountain of debt? That is actually a more realistic commercial than most because people do sometimes avoid collection agencies. And collection agencies make a lot of calls to people who are behind in their payments.
This is the point: collection agencies are companies or sometimes lawyers, who hire out their services to collect a debt to a creditor who may be a service provider, apartment manager or credit card company etc.
The creditor will send your bill and eventually warnings about turning the bill over to a collection agency. If you don't respond with payment they give the job to a collection agency. This is how they cut their losses. The elapsed time until they sell the bill to the collection agency is between 3 to 12 months.
The collection agency may not contact you by phone or mail, but just watch and wait for you as you are going about your daily business.
Your debt usually sells for a fraction of the amount owed to your creditor. It can be as low as 10% of the original debt. The collection agency will use every method they have to get the money you owe.
The collection agency sometimes works directly for the company or small business that you owe money, which means the debt hasn't been sold. This is the case for apartment managers that are trying to collect from a debtor. If the debt isn't sold to the collection agency they can't collect extra fees, but when it is sold the debt continues to grow from added fees.
You have redress for any abusive tactics the collection agency may use to collect the debt because there are laws that they have to go by. The main law is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Some states also have debt collection laws.
Be warned that because they have laws they legally must adhere to they don't always act within the law, when they're trying to collect from you. They may try illegal tactics like calling passed 9 o'clock at night. That means 9 o'clock your time. Some agencies call from a different state and time zone than yours. Collection agencies collecting for credit card debt and unpaid student loans are a good example.
Another example of illegal tactics is calling and hanging up. They also are required to tell you that this is an attempt to collect a debt and that any information acquired will be used for that purpose. There are other laws they have to follow like refraining from calling an excessive amount of times with the intent to harass. They also are prohibited from using foul language or abusing you physically.
Remember that when you know the laws that protect you as a debtor, you can use them to stop any harassment that the collection agency is perpetrating against you.
Both Nick Adama & Tristan Andrews are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Nick Adama has sinced written about articles on various topics from Foreclosure Help, Bankruptcy Law and Foreclosure Help. Nick writes articles to help homeowners who are trying to . Visit his site to read more about how to save a house and repair your credit:. Nick Adama's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Tristan Andrews has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pets, Education and Collection Agencies. Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes articles about and. Tristan Andrews's top article generates over 673000 views. to your Favourites.