You get a call and and someone, you do not know and have never met before, begins to attack you for being late with, or missing, a payment on your credit card or loan. Your honesty is even called into question.

This person threatens you with legal action and personal humiliation. You try to explain what has happened and your explanation is abruptly cut off.

“There is no excuses”, you are told. “Pay it NOW or else …”

As a user of credit, you have certain legal rights when dealing with a collection agency.

the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, prohibits debt collectors from doing certain things when trying to collect a debt.

Things Collection Agencies Cannot Do - They cannot ...

… Call you at work if it jeopardizes your employment;
… Make threats that are not true;
… Call your employer or neighbors;
… Call you late at night;
… Harass you unfairly;
… use deceptive conduct in order to collect the debt.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies only to debt collectors who are collecting someone else’s debt. While it does not specifically apply to a creditor collecting its on its own accounts, many creditors choose to abide by the provisions of the law voluntarily.

Creditors cannot Just seize your possessions. They must first get a legal judgment and court order before attempting to do so.

Unless a family member was a co-signer on the loan they cannot go after them in order to collect the debt either.

They can't send you to jail for not paying your debt unless, you purposly defrauded them. They also cannot realse your name to newspaper.

If you need to pay for necessities such as groceries, rent or power bills you can resist the prressure from the collecters if the locan was unsecured.

If you are under constant pressure or harassment from creditors and feel that you cannot satisfy your obligations, take steps to secure help by contacting some non-profit debt counselors for assistance with budgeting and determine any options that may be available to you.