The Collection Industry is Training Collectors to Violate the FDCPA
The front cover looks menacing enough, but what was inside was downright frightening… if you are a past due on a credit account.
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.
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