Debt collection is perfectly legitimate and legal. But when it crosses the line into harassment, debt collectors run afoul of the law. You deserve to get the facts so you can protect yourself.
You never thought it would get this bad, but the spiraling debts have gone to collections. The credit card company charged them off, and now you’re getting phone calls day and night from some tough-sounding folks.
At first, the collection agency phone calls were pleasant. They wanted to work with you, and seemed to genuinely care about your situation. But then things started to get ugly.
When your account gets sent to a new collection agency, chances are they’ve been hired because they’re more aggressive in getting payments. Many of these collection agencies get paid only when they collect money from you, so they have an incentive to get whatever they can.
If you were making minimum wage and needed to collect money from someone over the phone in order to have enough money to pay your bills, what would you do?
That’s exactly the situation many front-line debt collectors find themselves in. So when they sit down to work at the collection agency in the morning, they may be tempted to bend the rules. Or just break them.
Harassment is illegal. Phone calls and letters, threats to call the police, and a variety of other tactics constitute harassment, and violate the federal debt collection laws.
Thankfully, there’s help for victims of debt collection harassment. And it won’t cost you a dime in up-front legal fees.
Most New Yorkers don’t know about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, but it’s a powerful federal law that gives you a right to sue for debt collection harassment. the law allows you to sue for money damages, and also for legal fees and costs. That means the bill collector can be forced to pay your legal fees as well as money damages for harassing you.
If you’re being harassed by bill collectors, you need to contact us right away. Shaev & Fleischman, LLP is a New York law firm concentrating in protecting the rights of consumers. Contact us online or call 1-646-722-8649 and set up a free, no-obligation consultation to see if your rights have been violated.
Photo courtesy of Jayanth Sharma.