Have you heard the news about the recent changes that are happening in the debt collection industry? Although it is good news for the debt collectors and collection agencies, it is bad news for consumers. Debt collectors are now allowed to contact you through social media in order to attempt to collect a debt. That gives them one yet another weapon to use against people who owe them a debt. First they could contact you on the phone and through the mail. Now, debt collectors can contact you online. That means you won’t be able to escape them when you turn on your computer, tablet, and or smartphone.
It also will make it easier for debt collectors to harass you. Although not all debt collectors’ resort to illegal tactics in order to attempt to collect debt from consumers, it never ceases to amaze what some of them will do in order to be paid. In fact, some debt collectors will start contacting people on social media multiple times per day if not multiple times per hour. They contact you endless times on purposes because they want to push you over the edge. Typically speaking, when people are pushed over the edge it increases the chances that they will pay the debt collectors simply to make it all stop.
In the past, a great deal of consumers who couldn’t afford to pay the debt collectors paid them to simply make them stop calling. Now that the debt collectors can contact consumers through social media, it could lead to the same thing. For example, every time you check Facebook, Linked In, or your other preferred social media platforms there may very well be a bunch of messages from debt collectors. You may feel that it is worth paying them the debt that you owe just to make these messages go away even if you can’t afford to pay them at this time.
Nobody wants to jump on social media only to be swamped with a bunch of messages that remind you of exactly how much money you owe. If you are contacted above and beyond a certain amount of times per month, week, and or day on social media it may be considered to be debt harassment. Please review your particular situation with a law firm that is an expert in consumer rights to see what can be done to stop debt harassment. In a worst-case scenario the messages that debt collectors will be leaving you on social media will be full of threats.
You may receive social media messages that state you will be arrested if you fail to pay off your past due debt by a certain date. You may also receive social media messages from debt collectors that state your paycheck may be garnished or you won’t receive any of your paycheck until you pay off your past due debt. The good news is that debt collectors one hundred-percent cannot have you arrested, garnish your wages, or have your paycheck withheld. Not only can they not do these things, they are not allowed to threaten these things either.
If they do make these threats to you through social media than you are a victim of debt harassment. So why do some debt collectors make these types of threats? They want to scare you into paying off your past due debt. Many unsuspecting people believe them, and they know this. The debt collectors also know that they’re not allowed to make these kinds of threats or any threats for that matter. So why do they make threats? This is due to the fact that debt collectors know that the vast majority of consumers have absolutely no idea that they have consumer rights.
The bottom line is that some debt collectors commit debt harassment because they believe that they will get away with it. What a sad and twisted state of affairs that is. As if you don’t have enough problems, now you’re going to have debt collectors contacting you on social media. So what can you do about it? Your best bet is to contact your Legal Rights Advocates as soon as you finish reading this article. We will not only inform you of your consumer rights; we will also help you put a case together against the debt collectors if they are harassing you.
You probably don’t know this, but if you are suffering from debt harassment the debt collection agency or agencies may be liable to pay you for your pain and suffering.