Understand Debt Collection Agencies to Eliminate Credit Card Debt

Debt collection agencies (CAs) work for the original creditors, the credit card companies, and for junk debt buyers who buy credit card debt from the banks.  Some collection agencies are also part of integrated debt organizations which also include a junk debt buyer and a collection law firm.

All collection agencies are regulated by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).  Many states have their own version of the FDCPA.  In addition, most states require that CAs be licensed to contact consumers to collect debts.  CAs frequently violate these three areas of the law.  Those violations are fertile ground for law suits by victimized consumers and/or their attorneys working on contingency.

Collection Agencies attempting to collect credit card debt frequently violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  Here are some of the things they are capable.

1.       They threaten to have you arrested.  Unfortunately for them, bad debts are not a criminal matter.  This type of threat is, however, a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

2.       They threaten to have your wages garnished.  That cannot happen without a judgment and a subsequent wage garnishing court procedure.  In some state wages cannot be garnished.  That is another threat and another Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violation.

3.       They threaten to seize your bank account.  Again, that cannot happen without a judgment and a subsequent court order.  All these threats are in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and subject to $1000 awards each.

4.       If you have been making payments to a collection agency, your payment records may get lost or the collector you were working with has left the company.  In any event, they will insist you still owe the original amount, perhaps more.

5.       They add their own fees and interest to the original balance to inflate the debt to get more money out of you.

6.       They call your place of employment, your neighbors, or your relatives to collect on the alleged debt, which are violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to pay the debt.

Learn about the legal responses consumers can use to frustrate and defeat debt collectors and eliminate credit card debt in the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.