Collections Tactics – The Rant (Part 1 of TBD)

I, like so many others these days, am slowly digging myself out of debt. Still, slowly just isn’t good enough for some companies (probably because they are in danger of tanking and want their damned money now).
Last week, a debt collector called my mother in law, my brother in law, my mother, and who knows whom else, and left voicemails for all of them. In those voicemails, the collector stated that I owed a debt, that if I didn’t respond in two days, they’d take me to court, and that the voicemails constituted notice that I had been served.

It just so happens that I have a few research skills, so I looked up the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I found three sections of that act that the voicemails violated. (I won’t bore you with the legal jots and tiddles, but if you want to know, just mosey over to the contact page and ask).

Now, the debt collector is also a law office (to protect the guilty, I can’t say which one), so you’d think they’d know better.

They do.

In their desperate attempt to squeeze as much money as they can from consumers, debt collectors are throwing caution – and legal practices – to the wind. Some of them, such as the one I’ve described here, underestimate consumers to the point where they don’t even try to pretend they adhere to legal practices.

After all, we’re in debt, so we’re obviously too stupid to do  a few minutes of research, right? And besides, even if we figure out what they’re doing is illegal, we’re in debt… so we probably can’t pay an attorney to file suit against them. (Plus, the FDCPA only allows consumers to sue for actual damages plus $1,000 in punitive damages… which means the most you’ll get is $1,000 plus court costs and attorney fees unless you can prove they caused you to lose your job or be denied a loan.)

My opinion is that these practices will not stop until the Feds put some real bite into the FDCPA. Up the punitive damages threshold to $10k, and I imagine you’ll see a lot fewer debt collectors rattling your extended family members/neighbors/trash collector with empty threats over $500 debts.

Thus endeth rant.

What unfair debt collection practices have you encountered in your quest for financial freedom?