Phishing scams are going back to school in the upcoming weeks.  As you get ready to send your son or daughter back to college, or prepare to go back to school yourself, there’s something you’ll need to take with you that has nothing to do with bed linens or Ramen noodles.

And that is a lesson in keeping your personal information secure.

By now, most people know better than to click on a link requesting personal information that is sent in an e-mail from an unfamiliar Hotmail account, Yahoo! account or any other address that you can register for for free. However, people are more likely to trust an email coming from an institution they belong to, such as a school or employer. Consequently, students can be quick to trust that an e-mail coming from their school’s domain is valid. This is why more and more identity thieves are sending their phishing emails from spoofed .edu addresses.

This has already become a big problem at at least one school: Rice University in Houston, Texas. In the most recent issue of the school’s student newspaper, the Rice Thresher, it was stated that 14 different phishing scams have permeated the school’s email system since February of this year. As a result of these emails, at least 12 members of the campus community inadvertently submitted their personal information to the identity thieves, including their campus ID numbers and passwords.

However, Rice University is definitely not the lone educational institution falling victim to these attacks. Identity thieves are known to send hundreds and even thousands of emails per day, which means they will be reaching a college near you in due time, if they haven’t already.

Remind your kids – or yourself if you are the student – to not trust or respond to any emails that ask for personal information, not matter how reliable the source may seem to be. Always call the organization and verify the request – using a number posted on the official website, not one listed in the email message.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a set of rules governing debt collection and how collectors should behave. This Act sets requirements and prohibits any unfair or disrespectful act against you by debt collectors, such as phone harassment or debt collection letters laced with threats of lawsuits.

As it turns out, however, the FDCPA does not treat all debts equally. The distinction arises from its own definition of “debt”. As stated under the Definitions section of the FDCPA:

(5) The term “debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes…

In other words, the FDCPA covers only consumer debt. If you used your credit card for private purposes, such as paying for medical expenses or to purchase a new car, your debt is covered by FDCPA benefits. On the other hand, if you use your credit card to finance a business, that expense is considered business debt and falls outside of the FDCPA. If you do incur such debts and are unable to pay them, you may be vulnerable to unsavory collection tactics. It is not uncommon to be woken up by a late night phone call to be told by a collector that you are facing immediate arrest for late payments on your credit card debt.

Plan out your strategy carefully before using your credit card to fund your business. Be also aware of your state laws governing debt collection. If you’re already being harassed by debt collectors, contact me to discuss what they can’t do to you and what you can do about them.

Is it possible to get a debt collection lawsuit over a debt so old your credit company had already written it off as a loss? As two women found out, the answer is unfortunately, yes. Even worse—it’s legal.

A recent My 9 News story reveals that debt collectors such as New Jersey-based First Century Financial buy up old credit card debts at pennies on the dollar, then use their legal arm Pressler & Pressler to pressure consumers into paying up – even if the debt is too old to legally collect. The two women featured on the show were shocked to receive debt collection letters, claiming they owed thousands of dollars to collectors they’ve never even heard of, and that failure to pay would result in arrest and legal action.

Thankfully, there are ways to fight back. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects consumers from debt collection harassment. When faced with a debt collection letter you should always demand proof of the debt’s existence and the name and address of the original creditor. If you receive any legal papers – a lawsuit – you should contact a qualified attorney immediately.

Have you been the victim of debt collection harassment? If so, contact me or click here to set up a free, no-obligation telephone consultation to discuss your rights.

Debt collection harassment can lead people to do odd things. Recently a New Jersey consumer landed in a hospital after setting himself n fire at a Rent-A-Center store in protest of the volume of late payment notices and collection calls he’d received from the chain.

The man went to the retailer to speak with a manager about the collection letters and calls he had been receiving regarding missed payments on furniture rentals. When he was told a manager was not available, he doused himself with lighter fluid and lit the fluid with a cigarette lighter, setting himself on fire in front of customers and employees of the store.

The consumer was in critical condition after the incident, but it clearly shows how debt collection abuse can trigger mental issues. Of course, it’s easy to think that he brought it on himself, but consider this: the retailer has been accused in the past of unfair business practices concerning its credit granting and debt collection tactics. In 2006, the state of California reached a $7.75 million settlement with the company for what regulators said was a failure to “disclose the true cost of its rent-to-own program.”

Source: InsideARM.com

Just when you thought a debt collector was calling from America, it turns out, that call is more likely than not from India. That is right, you may be getting a telephone call asking you to pay a delinquent bill straight from Gurgaon, India. These bill collectors sit in cubicle farms thousands of miles away, calling more than 100 customers a day.

A recent story in the New York Times highlights this growing, and disturbing, trend.

Encore, based in San Diego, is one of a growing number of collection agencies training and employing foreign nationals in India and elsewhere around the world for pennies on the dollar. Many Indians, at most, bring home $63.00 a month.

When outsourced employees from Indian are being trained, they take on an American name in case the consumer asks their name. Having an American name does not make them American, especially if they do not know the American lingo or their English is lacking. Consumers can routinely tell when a call is coming from abroad, and are clearly not as stupid as the debt collectors think.

This all begs the question of whether it is possible to take a foreign national and force them to adhere to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Will these mild-manner folks, unschooled in the nuances of American syntax, be savvy enough to resist the urge to cross the line between legality and illegality?

More to the point, in the case of litigation against a debt collector for violations of the federal consumer protection laws, will the defending companies produce their employees for depositions? In such third-world countries it is often impossible to locate former employees due to lax record-keeping at the local level – so how would an aggrieved consumer even find the proper offending debt collector?