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Collection Agency Harassment
You're having your evening meal when the phone rings and on the other end you hear "Is this Bill Davis?" You get that gut wrenching feeling that the call is about your past due bills and you say "no, it's not" and quickly hang up but the calls persist. What do you do, how are you going to stop all the calls and letters and worst yet, you can't afford to pay the bills. That feeling is bad enough but when annoying phone calls turn into full blown harassment then you need to take action.

Abusing or harassing you is illegal. Just because you are past due on your bills doesn't give a debt collector the right to abuse you. A debt collector has to follow the FDCPA, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Part of that protection is not being abused by the collector. Collectors will try many tricks to find out where you work, your cell phone number, even call your relatives or neighbors so it is important for you to know what rights can stop the abuse. You also need to resolve the "alleged debts" otherwise they will not go away. Here are some tips to follow.

What the collection agency doesn't want you to know
Collection agencies are profitable only by collecting debts, however in doing that, their job is difficult because of the restrictions of the FDCPA. Collection agencies hope that you do not know about the FDCPA because when you do, it makes collecting much harder for them. For example, a collection agency doesn't want you to know that you can tell them to stop calling or writing you or that you have a right to make them prove the debt is valid. A collection agency likes an uniformed consumer. The less you know about the laws, the easier it is for them to collect money or intimidate you in to paying.

Do you owe the debt?
This is the single most important thing you should check in to. Is the debt valid. When a collection agency purchases a debt, they may be buying debts that are several years old or debts that have been placed with several collection agencies before they picked it up. Most collection agencies buy debts for pennies on the dollar and make a huge profit by collecting the entire balance. Making sure the debt is accurate is called VOD (validation of debt). VOD is part of the FDCPA and in a nutshell it means the collector must prove the debt to be yours when asked. Most people don't know this and never ask for proof. They simply pay the debt no questions asked. VOD is powerful in that you can literally wipe away the debt if the collector doesn't have sufficient data to prove it is valid. Since most debts are sold over and over, the records are often not available. If the collector cannot prove the debt is valid then he can not force you to pay it and he cannot report it to the credit reporting agencies. There are provisions to follow however so be sure to read this full article on VOD and then use a VOD sample letter to complete the procedure.

Do they have the wrong person?
This is a common problem with collection accounts. Often the identity is incorrect so it is very important to ask for VOD.

How old is the debt?
One of the most important facotrs in dealing with collection accounts is the SOL- statute of limitation. If it is expired then the debt is no longer collectable. Check your SOL to be sure you are not paying an expired debt.

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