When you encounter a bad debt collector, we are here to stop them and make them pay you damages. We provide these services for free. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors who break the law have to pay your damages and pay our fees and costs. Hence, you pay nothing.
Things that debt collectors do to break the law:
These are just some of the ways that debt collectors violate peoples’ rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If your rights have been violated or, if you are not sure, call us any way for a free no obligation consultation. Call (404) 528-2058 or email us at gary@crlam.com.
Good debt collectors do their jobs. Bad debt collectors do their worst – on people.
Here are some questions and answers about what a debt collector can and cannot do:
Generally no. If they do call a third party, then they cannot tell the third party about a debt that you owe or that they are attempting to collect a debt.
Generally yes, but if you tell them to stop calling you at work because you cannot take calls there, then they MUST stop calling you.
If you send a written letter to the debt collector directing it to cease and desist from calling you, then it must stop calling you. If the debt collector calls you at work, you only need to tell him or her, once, that you are not allowed to accept calls at work.
No. If you prefer to work directly with the creditor, you certainly have a right to do that.
Generally, no. But, if the creditor gets a judgment against you, and serves you with a subpoena of any kind, you should know that a subpoena is an order of the court. You NEVER want to ignore court orders.
No. They have done away with debtor’s prison over 100 years ago. If you owe a debt, you don’t go to jail But, see the question above. Do NOT ignore court orders. Ignoring a court order can land you in jail.
Nothing. You can tell the debt collector that if he does not accept your payment plan offer that you will simply take your limited funds and start negotiating with the next creditor that you owe and ignore him and his client.
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a debt collector may only collect a debt for which there was a contract or a law that provides for the debt. Hence, pre judgment interest may be collected if there is a law in your jurisdiction that allows for it. But a “collection fee” would be illegal if there is no law that allows a collection agency to charge such an enhanced fee.