How to Cope with Collection Agencies

There goes the phone, ringing again and you are ingoring it because it might be the collection agency that has been hounding you. This situation is familiar to many of us. Due to a lay off or other unexpected financial crisis we have had a debt go into collections and spent time dreading the sound of the phone ringing. Ignoring the phone however, will not make the collection agency go away or stop calling, instead it will just allow your credit to fall into further disrepair. So, what can you do to make the calls stop? There are actions you can take, not only to make the calls stop, but act responsibly and pay off your debt.

You should know first that if there is a dispute over the debt, you do have a course of action that can be taken. However, you must receive written notification from the collection agency of the intent to collect the debt as this will have all of the pertinent details that you will need to dispute it. They usually do not send this notification until you have spoken to them on the phone. Once you speak with them and tell them you want to validate the debt, they will send the written notification. If this debt is not valid then you must submit a written debt validation request, you can insist in this letter that the debt is not valid and ask them to cease communication with you. This does not clear up the debt however and you will need to follow up with the debt originator, credit bureaus and if you were the victim of identity theft or fraud, the proper authorities.

If however, the debt is valid, then it is best to deal with it right away. Before you answer the phone next time for the collection agency, get realistic about your budget. If you cannot afford to pay the debt entirely, sit down and determine some amount of money that you can afford to pay at set intervals, say weekly or monthly.

Some collection agencies can be pretty aggressive so get a tape recorder and be prepared to protect yourself by recording the call. You must inform them when you answer the phone that the call is being recorded on your end. If they choose to continue the call then they are in effect giving their permission to be recorded. Proceed then to tell them that you will be glad to work with them, provided they are not overly aggressive or rude. Make them tell you who they are, this includes the persons name on the phone, the company name and a telephone number. Agencies that are unwilling to provide this information are more likely to be prepared to violate your rights or try to misinform you on what those are.

Let them know that you cannot afford to pay the entire debt in one payment, but have determined that you can afford a specific amount per week or month and that you will pay said amount so long as they agree to cease calling you.

If you can come to an agreement about payment schedule and get them to agree to stop calling you, ask them to submit the agreement to you in writing, this way you can keep it for your records should ever try to claim that no such agreement was made. At this point, so long as you make the agreed payments they should cease telephone contact with you.

For more information about your rights in debt collection situations, familiarize yourself with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act available on the Federal Trade Commission website.

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