While people are just trying to make ends meet amid a global pandemic, the last thing they need is unlawful debt collectors harassing them for money. If you’ve been experiencing debt collection harassment, we want to help, and here’s how to stop debt harassment in its tracks.
Debt Collection Harassment
Debt collection harassment refers to abusive practices used by collectors. These can look like false threats, threats to tell employers about your debt, calls made at inappropriate times, or attempts to collect more than what is owed. As stated in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: “There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy.”
While collectors can legally reach out to debtors, they must comply with the law when they do so. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act protect debtors from collection abuse. With the help of a debt collection harassment attorney, you can protect yourself from abusive and unscrupulous creditors.
Recognizing Abusive Tactics
The FDCPA considers the following practices debt collection harassment:
- Sending you mail that lists your debt on the outside of the envelope
- Threatening to and/or telling other people about your debt
- Violent threats
- Contacting you at inappropriate times
- Using obscene language
- Falsely representing themselves as an attorney to collect a debt
- Repeated annoying calls intended for harassment
- Pretending to be a government agency
- Lying to trick you into paying a debt
- Lying about the amount of debt you owe to scare you into paying for it – see more regarding zombie debt.
- Falsely telling you that you’ve committed a crime.
If you’ve experienced any of the above deceptive collection tactics, be aware that it is abuse, and you do not need to stand for it. Putting food on the table can be hard enough during a global pandemic; don’t let abusive debt collection practices bully you into paying money you don’t owe.
How To Stop Abusive Practices
If you’ve been the victim of debt collection harassment, don’t feel powerless. You should never have to pay what you don’t owe. Don’t wait to call a debt collection harassment attorney; you can build a case with your attorney and respond to the unlawful collector with full knowledge of your legal rights and the power of the law.
How to Work With a Consumer Rights Lawyer
If an unlawful debt collector is harassing you, you have the right to work with a consumer rights lawyer. Our experienced debt collection harassment attorneys at Holland Law Firm are ready to take on your case. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act (MCDCA), debtors are protected from unfair harassment. Don’t be bullied, and don’t feel powerless against predatory collection tactics.