After the holidays, many people have good intentions about paying off debt until life starts all over again. As other expenses arise, debt collectors start to call to remind you about unpaid bills. If your phone is ringing endlessly, it’s best to face debt collectors rather than running away.

Newsday recently published a valuable article about dealing with debt collectors and resolving unpaid bills. They offer several useful suggestions about handling debt collection including:

Don’t hide from collection calls and letters. Debt collectors don’t go away. If they cannot reach you at home, they may start to contact your family and employers. Before unresolved debts turn into an embarrassing situation, answer the phone and tell debt collectors the truth about your situation.

Don’t pay more than you owe. Never pay inflated dates with extra service charges. Let debt collectors know you won’t pay more than you actually owe.

Don’t pay dead or dormant debt. Old debts may not even belong to you. Debt collection agencies purchase zombie debts and attempt to collect them from the apparent debtor. The debt may belong to someone else with the same name or address. Get your free credit reports from Experian, Equifax and Transunion to review them for possible inaccuracies. Never admit to a debt that isn’t yours or you may wind up paying it anyway.

Don’t stop communicating with collectors. Cutting off communication could encourage creditors to take more drastic actions to collect the money.

Don’t use all your savings or home equity to pay off debt. You will be left with no resources if an emergency arises.

Negotiate the terms. With so many people unable to pay their bills, collectors are willing to accept pennies on the dollar in repayment of outstanding debts. Take advantage of this tough economic times to negotiate a deal with creditors.

Memorialize your conversation. Write the date, time and nature of every conversation with each creditor. Make sure to get the employee’s name or employee identification number so you can reference the conversations accurately in the future.

Never accept abusive collection calls. Collection agents cannot call you continually or in the middle of the night. It is also debt collection abuse to unreasonably threaten you or use profanity during a conversation.

If you are facing debt collection and collection abuse, contact a professional attorney to discuss your options. You will be pleasantly surprised to find out there are many ways to attain financial freedom. A professional attorney will help you identify credit reporting errors, renegotiate debt and eliminate collection abuse.