Debt Collection Practices

If you owe debt to a creditor collection agencies are allowed to report your debt to credit bureaus, file lawsuits against you, and should be taken very seriously. The best way to protect yourself and your financial situation is a methodical approach. First, know why you are being contacted. Know where the debt is from and exactly how much it costs.

Inquire about the name of the person calling, the agency, the creditor, and the agency’s address and fax number. You have every right to tell a collector over the phone that you want all future contact to be in a written form. Follow up all requests with a written request.

Keep in mind if you tell the collector not to contact you at all it the agency is entitled to contact you once more to inform you how it plans to proceed. Another request that can be made is that you are the only person that can be contacted. It might be a good idea to keep a file including dates and details of phone conversations and when you mail out or receive letters.

If you do send any written correspondence to the collections company do this by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. This guarantees that the letter reached the collector, giving you a signed receipt as proof. If you work out a re-payment plan over the phone, ask for the terms of the plan in writing. Any promise to remove or adjust credit history should also definitely be documented.

Double check that you pay the right party; payments should be made to the collections company, not the creditor, unless otherwise instructed to do so. Closely examine the amount you are being asked to pay. Get an assessment of any interest, fees or charges that have been added.

If you feel that your collector is being abusive, make sure that you complain to the agency and keep this complaint on file. Finally, don’t ignore a collector even if you feel that the debt is not yours; they will continue to call and it may mean more trouble and time in the long run.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. She also writes articles on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

Spanish Collection Agency Humiliates Debtors Into Paying Up

Would you be mortified if a man in a tuxedo and a top hat followed you into a restaurant and silently joined your lunch date? How about a trio of men with more to love dressed like superheroes asking your neighbors for donations to assist you in your financial situation?

In Madrid, make sure that your bills are paid or you might be visited by one of these crazy characters. The recession has slammed Spain. Official figures show that the unemployment rate has sky rocketed, reaching 19.3 percent. That\’s one of the highest rates in Europe. About four million people aren\’t working. That\’s the same number of jobless people as France and Italy combined. One business is flourishing however, that business is debt collection.

Spanish law is pretty lax when it comes to debt payment. They allow 95 days to settle bills unlike the 30 in other parts of Europe. This, coupled with the fact that Spanish courts give the matter low priority put collection agencies in high demand.

One agency, El Cobrador del Frac – which translates as \”The Debt Collector in Top Hat and Tails\” – has more than 250 collectors, and an equal number of secretaries and investigators.Their goal is to work out some deal and retrieve money, not to go after people without the means to pay.

For them, new business is coming from constructive trade which is suffering from a huge slowdown. Homeowners owe money to contractors, contractors owe money to construction companies, construction companies owe equipment makers, and so on and so forth.

Last year, the agency was contacted by a wedding company who had a couple who did not pay the $83,000 bill for their extravagant wedding. The agency got their hands on a wedding guest list and began calling up guests one by one on the phone and asking them if they had the chicken or the lobster, and then asked them where to send the bill. Eventually the shamed couple paid up.

These ideas are interesting, (I guess that\’s one way to describe it) but they won\’t be this effective in due time. In this time of crisis, too many people have debts and they honestly can\’t pay. And to these people, it doesn\’t matter how much you humiliate them.

Mallory McGuinness is employed by a debt collection agency. She also composes stories about business, finance, consumer spending and debt collection. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service