If life were fair debt collectors would stop calling you during the Covid crisis. They would realize how hard it is for most people to make ends meet during these difficult times, and put a time out to their attempts to collect past due debts. Even if the debt collectors don’t stop calling you, they should at least be understanding of your circumstances. In essence, if you inform them that you simply can’t pay the balance or even start a monthly payment plan right now because you are out of work, or are working less hours, they should respect that and stop calling you for a bit.
However, most debt collectors only care about themselves. They get paid to collect money from people who owe a debt, which is why they could care less if you can afford to pay them or not. Collecting money from you is how they make their living. However, that certainly doesn’t mean that they should throw all decency out of the window. It’s important to treat people with both dignity and respect. In fact, treating people with dignity and respect is a basic human principal, and should be used in all manners of life.
Just because you are in a difficult financial situation and are not able to pay your bills on time or pay them at all certainly doesn’t mean that you are any less of a person. That being said, there are a some debt collectors that will treat you as less of a person simply because you owe money. These debt collectors will pick up the phone and call you early in the morning and late at night in order to annoy you. They figure if they annoy you enough you may just make the payment in order to make the phone calls stop. Well, in many cases, those annoying phone calls go beyond being annoying.
They can be a form of debt harassment, and that is illegal according to federal law. If you are receiving phone calls from debt collectors before 8 am or after 9 pm, it is debt harassment. Some of the debt collectors who are calling you at all hours will take debt harassment a step further. They will make empty threats in order to scare you into paying them the debt that you owe. Under federal law, debt collectors are not allowed to threaten you in any way, shape, or form. They can inform you that they will take you to court if you do not pay your debt, however they can’t threaten to have you arrested for it.
You should be aware that if you fail to appear in court on the day and time of the summons then the judge could have you arrested. So if a debt collector threatens to have you arrested they are actually committing debt harassment.
Here are some other threats that debt collectors use when attempting to collect a debt.
Some debt collectors will threaten to contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and or the person in charge of issuing your paycheck in order to have them garnish your pay. Even if they sound completely convincing, debt collectors are not allowed to make this threat, and they have absolutely zero power in putting a hold back on your paycheck. Another bullying tactic or threat that some debt collectors resort to is informing you that they will contact your boss, co-workers, friends, family members, and neighbors and tell them all about your debt.
Some people fall for this because they don’t want to be embarrassed about their current state of affairs. The good news is that debt collectors are not allowed to contact your boss, co-workers, friends, family members, or neighbors and provide them with any information about your debt. They can only contact these people to verify your contact info. That means debt collectors cannot give them any info about how much money you owe, who you owe the money to, and the fact that you owe money in the first place.
The bottom line is that debt collectors are not allowed to make any threats that will scare you into paying them. They must treat you with both the dignity and respect that you deserve at all times. Debt collectors are not allowed to curse or swear at you. They are not allowed to belittle you in any manner what so ever.
If you are suffering from debt harassment at the hands of a debt collector or multiple debt collectors, please contact us for help today. Your Legal Rights Advocates are here to provide you with a bit of relief. We look forward to helping you starting now.
(855) 254-7841
