As the Covid pandemic rages on millions of hard working Americans are out of work. In addition, a great deal of workers have had their hours cut down in a significant manner in order to meet Covid restrictions. Since the economy is upside down, it has become incredibly difficult to find even part time work. That has lead to a vast increase in past due debt accounts that have gone to collection agencies. It makes sense. If you are not earning as much money as you used to earn it becomes really hard to pay your bills on time. In most cases, it becomes really hard to pay your bills at all.
That means you need to prioritize. Housing and food come first. You need shelter and you need to eat, that goes without saying. You need to try to pay the utility bill, especially the electricity and your phone bill. If you have a home phone and a cell phone you should think about eliminating the house phone in order to save money each month. Although cable is important for your entertainment needs, it should be the last utility bill that you pay. If you lose your cable temporarily it’s not the end of the world. You may very well need your automobile to get around, so paying your car loan is also important. That leaves your credit card bills.
If you have maxed out your credit card limits or are close to doing so, you may decide not to pay for your credit cards for the time being. At a certain point the past due debt will be sent to a collection agency. That is exactly how the vast majority of consumers end up having their accounts in collections. Although this is understandable, you need to realize that collection agents will start contacting you on a regular basis in order to attempt to collect the debt that you owe. They may very well be aggressive about it because typically speaking they only get paid if they actually collect the money.
You also need to realize that debt collectors are not allowed to take part in debt collection harassment, which many do because the vast majority of consumers are unaware of the fact that they have consumer rights in this matter. In essence, debt collection harassment, also known as debt harassment occurs when a debt collector tries to intimidate you into paying your past due debt. Under federal law, debt collectors are not allowed to abuse or bully you when attempting to collect a debt. They are supposed to follow the rules and treat you properly each and every time they contact you.
Yet many debt collectors break the law and commit debt harassment because they know that most consumers are completely unaware that debt harassment is not allowed. Is the federal government doing enough to stop harassment? The answer is both yes and no. The laws are definitely in place, they just need to be enforced better. The last administration was in favor of giving the banks and large corporations more rights. The new administration is more in favor of consumer rights, which is a good thing for people who have past due debt balances with collection agencies.
In essence, the new administration may very well make the debt harassment penalties even stronger. The good news is that while we are waiting for that to happen, you can actually do something about debt harassment. You just need to know that debt collectors are not allowed to do certain things. If they do, they are violating the debt harassment laws and you may even be able to sue them in a court of law for damages. Of course you will need the help of an attorney that is well versed in consumer protection laws. If a debt collector contacts you and starts to make threats they are violating the law.
For example, some debt collectors will attempt to scare people into paying their debt by saying they will have them arrested or will have their paychecks or unemployment checks frozen until the debt is paid off. Debt collectors cannot have you arrested, and cannot have your checks frozen. It is just lies that they tell to scare people into paying the debt. In addition, debt collectors may threaten to have you children taken away because you cannot support them if you fail to pay your debt. Once again, they have no power in this regard, and if they lie and threaten you they are committing debt harassment.
Your Legal Rights Advocates will help you stand up for your rights, so please contact us today to get started.
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