Kenneth Besser wrote Collections 101: A Training Manual for Entry Level Debt Collectors.

The Fair Debt Collections Practice Act specifically makes harassing a debot a violation.

Section 806(5) says that harassing a debtor is causing a phone to ring repeatedly with the intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.  That doesn’t mean that they are only allowed to call once per day, it just means they can’t harass you.

That is why I was shocked to read in Section 9.14 of Besser’s book about calling back a person who hangs up on you.  When I worked for the debt collectors, and the debt collection agency I worked with was one of the worst, we never called back.

This is taken directly from Section 9.14:  “Following a hang-up, some collectors make an immediate callback to make sure that the call was not terminated accidentally.  If a reconnection is made, the collector may wish to inquire about the reason for the disconnection by saying something to the effect of , ‘I’m very sorry, Mister/Miss ______, but we seemed to be cut off before we were done.”

It is 2009, most phones don’t cut out, unless they are cell phones, and I will write more about that later.

Besser continues: “If the debtor begins to state that he or she hung up on purpose, then a collector may politely, but firmly reply by saying, ‘If you found our previous conversation not to your liking, then, please accept my apology.’

OK, so far, so good, I wouldn’t have called them back but…

Besser continues: “‘Nonetheless, hanging up will not make this matter go away.’”

Actually maybe it might.

To me, if a debtor says they intended to hang up, the conversation should be over.  The parting shot, also known as the last word, is harassment and as such it is a violation of the FDCPA.

So how can I be sure?

I can’t, but I’m sure if I have it on tape and I file a complaint that debt is going to go away at the very least.  One of my favorite lines (that I stole from a national debt expert) with debt collection agencies is “I’d love to own a collection agency, do you want to keep it up.”

Are debt collectors driving you nuts?  Do you think they are crossing the line?  Call me at 484-661-2891 or email me at jim@padebt911.com and we can discuss your debt problems and dealing with debt collectors for no charge, which is certainly less than that check by phone the debt collector is offering you.

I contend that the debt collector threatens to sue you, and they are employee of the debt collection agency and not the creditor or the person who owns the debt at that time, that they are violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because they cannot possibly be certain that the creditor is in fact going to sue the debtor.  Threatening to file a lawsuit against a debtor if you have no intent to do so is a violation of the FDCPA.

Debt collection agencies have caught on to this, and while some are doing the right thing and instructing their collectors not to threaten legal action, others are allowing their collectors to say “If you don’t pay this today I’m going to send it to legal”, or “If we don’t get a payment today your account will be referred to the legal department”.

I think I can make a very good argument in court that if the debt collection agency itself doesn’t have lawyer on staff, they have no right to threaten to send your account to the legal department.  Think about it for a minute, telling someone your intentions to send them to the legal department implies that you are going to sue them, and that would be a threat.  If the collection agency doesn’t have an attorney working for them and there is no legal department, they had no intention of sending you to the legal department, and therefore they were threatening you with legal action that they could not take and they are violating the FDCPA.

I’m not sure if that argument would hold water in court, but I think it would.  Collection agencies are not in any hurry to find out either.

The bottom line is this, if a debt collection agency is threatening to sue you, you have a reasonable argument that they’re threatening you with legal action that they don’t intend to take.

This is just one of any number of the FDCPA violations that collection agencies routinely use as a collection tactic.  A letter from a good FDCPA attorney will make a collection agency shake in their shoes.

Think about what’s on the line for the collection agency.  If they go into court, they have to pay a lawyer to defend them, and if they are found liable for violating FDCPA they not only have to pay a fine but the debtor’s attorney’s fees.  If they’re found violating FDCPA, the fair Trade Commission will be monitoring the more, as will a lot of other gladhanding agencies in the US Federal Government.  I’m not a person who likes Federal intervention, but we don’t have debtor’s prisons country for a reason.

Don’t let yourself a imprisoned by a rogue debt collector.  If you have debt problems and you’re in over your head, or you have a debt collection agency calling you that just doesn’t get it, call me at 484-661-2891 or e-mail me at jim@padebt911.com and we can discuss your options together. How long should the collection agency be allowed to threaten to send you the legal before you send them to your own legal department?

When I was a debt collector it was pretty clear to me that I could catch more flies with honey, but that was always my style as I was never one who was going to be abusive to a debtor, but I was in the minority, even though the collection agency was based in the a place that prided itself on being polite and genteel.

I recently got a phone call from someone who did not become my client.  They didn’t really need to be.  They owed about $900 to BellSouth, a telephone company that as you probably guessed is based in the Southeast United States.  This bills was owed from back in college in 2006 and this debt collectors had a habit of calling my client every night around 9:30 PM.  We ascertained that this debt collector was based in Alabama which is in central daylight time or an hour behind us, so when it is 8:30 PM there it is 9:30 PM here.

According to The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), debt collectors are only allowed to call at times that are not considered inconvenient.  As a general rule,  The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) allows debt collectors to call between 8 AM and 9 PM where the debtor is located.

So it would appear that we had a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), but it’s important to be able to prove that there has been some sort of malicious behavior behind the violation, meaning that that collection agency can’t be making what could be considered an honest mistake.  The law itself doesn’t specifically require malicious behavior for there to be a violation, there are very few judges that will find for a plaintiffs against a collection agency that was just making an honest mistake.

The woman never got rid of their Alabama cell phone number.  Her phone number had a 205 area code.  205 is an area code for northern Alabama, which is in the central time zone, so the debt collector was making an honest mistake calling at 9:30 PM because this debt collector thought they were calling in Alabama phone, and in Alabama it was only8:30 PM.

You hear advertisements on the radio, especially around here, about secret ways to get rid of your debt.  Some will also advertise about actually suing and reclaiming money from the debt collection agencies.  Others will talk about how Congress has given credit card company so much money that they need to clear their books and they’re going to give you a discount on what you owed them.  My father used to say if it sounds too good to be true it probably is and while I’m not saying these advertisements are misleading, I’m not not saying it either.

There are plenty of legitimate Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violations to go around, we don’t need to be making them up.  The woman decided she wanted to keep her Alabama phone number.  We were able to talk to BellSouth and negotiate a settlement for less than the original amount owed.  I did that one for free, it was a short phone call, an opportunity to deal with a creditor I hadn’t dealt with in the past, and away or me to do a good deed.   A few days later BellSouth sent a letter with an offer which the young lady accepted.

If you find yourself with a lot more than $900 worth of debt and you’re not sure about bankruptcy or debt settlement but you would like more information, please call my office at 484-661-2891 or e-mail me at jim@padebt911.comand we can set up an appointment for a free consultation.