Home Debt Repair & Relief Collection Agencies Your Rights When Dealing with a Collection Agency
Your Rights When Dealing with a Collection Agency PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Friday, 18 July 2008 09:15
Collection agencies are not allowed to:
  • Call your office;
  • Call your home before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
  • Address you in an abusive manner
  • Call family or friends in an attempt to collect your debt
  • Harass you
  • Make false or misleading statements
  • Add unauthorized charges.

If any of the above is happening to you, tell the collection agency to stop harassing you. If it continues, ask for its name and address and report it to the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, or your state’s attorney general’s office. These telephone numbers can be found in your telephone book or by calling directory assistance.

You can demand that the collection agency stop contacting you, except to tell you that collection efforts have ended or that the creditor or collection agency will sue you. You must put your request in writing.

If the violations are ongoing, you can sue the collection agency, and the creditor that hired the agency, for up to $1,000 in small claims court for violating the FTC regulations. If the violations are outrageous, you can sue the collection agency and creditor in regular civil court.

 

Sponsors