We’re all suffering from the fallout of the Covid pandemic in some way or another. You may have lost your job, or the company that you work for has cut down your hours to the point that you simply don’t have enough money to pay your bills, let alone pay for housing and groceries. Maybe you are sick or have been sick with Covid and can’t work. The recent stimulus payment helps a little bit, but it’s certainly not enough money to live off of. In fact, it won’t even cover one month of bills for most people. The bottom line is that we need a break.
We need something to go start going right. We need to stop shoveling sand against the tide. If only those annoying debt collectors would stop calling until we get back on our feet. If feels like they expect us to get blood from a stone. They’d take your first born in lieu of payment if they could get away with it. Debt collectors can certainly be nasty people by nature to say the least. Think about what they do for a living for a second. In essence, their job is to collect money from people that typically don’t have the money to pay. They know you probably don’t have the money when they call you.
Yet, if the debt collectors don’t collect the money from you, they don’t get paid. So they will try to make you feel guilty about the money that you owe them that some people will use the grocery money to pay the past due debt. When it comes to feeding your family and or yourself or paying your past due debt, there is absolutely no choice. You use that money to shop for food. Yet some debt collectors could care less if you starve as long as you pay them. Some debt collectors will take it one step further. They will resort to tactics that are designed to be so terrible that most people will pay them just to make it stop.
In fact, some of these underhanded tactics are considered to be illegal by the federal government under the debt harassment laws. For example, if a debt collector keeps calling you at all hours of the day and night, they are most likely committing debt harassment. Debt collectors are only allowed to call you at home between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm. So, if a debt collector calls you before 8 am or after 9 pm they are committing debt harassment. Here’s another example. Debt collectors are not allowed, by federal law, to make any threats to you.
However, some debt collectors will make threats. They may tell you that they will have you arrested if you don’t make monthly payments on your debt or pay off the past due debt amount in full. The bottom line is that you can’t go to jail because you owe a debt collector money. They are lying to you. Debt collectors cannot have you arrested. They can only sue you in a court of law. If you fail to show up at the hearing, the judge may issue a warrant for your arrest. Debt collectors may also tell you that they’re going to call your boss, your family, your friends, and your neighbors in order to inform them that you are a deadbeat.
Some people fall for this because the debt collectors make it sound so real and people are afraid that others will find out about their financial situation. In essence, nobody wants to be embarrassed. Once again, debt collectors are not allowed by federal law to contact anyone about your debt beside yourself. If they contact your boss, your family, your friends, your neighbors, or anyone else for that matter they are committing debt harassment. The lowest of the low debt collectors will lie to you and tell you that they will contact Child Protective Services in order to have your children taken away for neglect unless you pay them.
Once again, this is a lie, and you should never fall for it. Debt collectors cannot have your children taken away from you.
Have any of these things happened to you? If you answered yes to this question then you are being harassed by a debt collector. The good news is that you have consumer rights, and we can help you exercise those consumer rights. If you think or even suspect that you are suffering from debt harassment please contact our offices today. Legal Rights Advocates will provide you with the help you need to make it stop.
(855) 254-7841
