Top 5 Illegal Phone Tactics for Debt Collection

Many commercial firms get goaded with untimely phone calls from debt collectors in intrusive and harassing tones. There is no denying that collection agencies use various tactics to force people to pay their debts. Unfortunately, most of these practices are illegal and abusive.

If you are getting those scary phone calls from debt collection services near me violating the FDCPA, there are various remedies. Harassment by a collection service is illegal. If collection agencies are pursuing you, here is what you need to know about the phone scare tactics of debt collectors.

1. Using threats for paying debts

The collection services often threaten the debtors to make them pay debts and, garnish their bank accounts, or sue them. However, FDCPA protocols prohibit the use of threats as debt collection is not a criminal but a civic matter with no involvement of the police. Therefore, if you receive threatening calls from the agencies, consider it a violation of FDCPA.

If the agency is yet to prove the existence of debts, they are debarred from sealing the bank accounts. For business owners in similar situations, garnishing bank accounts is unlawful.  However, in case of judgment, the threats are less likely to be legal. The collection agencies can sue debtors but it may continue for a long period before they get out of the order of garnishing the bank accounts. However, if the agency has no aim to sue you, threatening may mean violation of FDCPA.

2. Not a debt collector? Pretentious?

While there may be several collection agencies following lawful debt collection practices, there is no dearth of fake agencies pretending to be collectors. If you owe money to your client, you may get calls from genuine as well as fake agencies. Be sure to identify the signs as their only aim is to establish your outstanding debts. Typically, a legitimate debt collection service will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor and the total amount of debt. If you get the slightest suspicion about people pretending as collectors, you need to get their information and send a letter mentioning that you need to intimate the caller. Identifying whether the caller is fake or genuine is necessary to stay away from the wrong people.

3. Making harassing phone calls

Debt collectors often use harassing phone calls to force you to pay a debt. Are they calling you at inconvenient times such as during holidays or dinner time? Calling outside the specific hours or at any other time is the wrong strategy to pick.  Using abusive language or yelling is also recorded as harassment. You can try to take the content and time of each call to pursue the matter. Unlike the wrong practices of scary phone tactics of fake collectors, Nelson, Cooper & Ortiz is a renowned commercial collection firm and a registered agency that uses goal-oriented and lawful recovery strategies to help businesses come out of the debt structure. If you own a small business trying to come out of the cycle of debts, hire experts with extensive knowledge.

4. Calling the people you know

It is not unusual for illegal debt collectors to call family members or other people who know you to recover the best amount. But contacting any third party or family to inquire about the whereabouts of debtors is a wrong practice. A collector should never contact a family member or even neighbors to get information about the debtor. The debtor in turn can give it in writing to the debt collection service requesting them not to contact family members, neighbors, or third parties. Try to keep a copy of that letter if the debt collector fails to comply with the request and use it when complaining against the collection agency

5. No calling after attorney representation

If you are a business with an attorney representation, the collector needs to stop all communication. Instead, provide your attorney’s name and contact information when you are plagued with calls from collection agencies.

The calls from a collection agency are bothersome and scary, especially due to their tone of handling the communication and using intimidating language. For small business debt collection, the goal of the agency is to push you to pay the debt you owe. Find out if you owe the amount at all and do not get pushed aside by their scare tactics. Refer to the FDCPA to report about the unlawful methods of debt collection and identify the authenticity of the collection agency for the best results.