Debt Collectors Being Targeted For Stricter Laws
As the economic crisis and rising job employments continue, American consumers are finding themselves in very difficult financial circumstances. Many of these consumers are most likely carrying large debts from their credit card companies. For consumers whose debts have been written off by their credit card company and sold to debt collectors, there is a high probability that they are now being chased by aggressive debt collectors.
With the unprecedented rise in write offs, credit card companies have had to find a way to dispose of bad loans. Usually, a credit card company sells these bad loans to credit collectors, usually for the price of pennies to a dollar. The high incidence of write offs have boosted business for debt collectors, though they are not untouched by the economic crisis.
Buying debts is only half of what debt collectors do, the other half is collecting debt. For consumers who are targets of debt collectors, the experience can be quite distressing. Debt collectors have been known to be very aggressive, often calling at inconvenient hours and engaging in harassing practices like informing the friends and relatives of their target debtor of how much they owe.
A more serious practice is when a debt collector tries to collect from a debtor who has already paid his debt. It might be that the collector may simply be unaware that payment has been made or it could also be that the collector wants to take advantage of the debtors uncertainty in the off chance that he or she will pay the debt again.
There are actually laws already in place that ought to protect consumers from such practices. The national consumer credit laws already protects consumers from harassment, deception and other unfair practices that debt collectors or collection agencies engage in. Around six states in the country have also added several limitations to debt collectors to protect consumers. It is expected that other states will soon follow suit.
Still, law practitioners feel that these laws are not enough. Debt collectors still engage in oppressive behavior, adding to the frustration of consumers who are already burdened by the economy, unemployment and the economic crisis. Mark Zuckerberg, a bankruptcy lawyer in Indianapolis has one paralegal in his office who works primarily on cases where clients are still pursued by debt collectors even after their debts had been cleared by bankruptcy.
Zuckerberg said, “If there were tougher laws, they would think twice before they call and harass our citizens”. He also added, “I get calls to my office (from clients) two and three times a day saying, ‘I paid you this money (to discharge debts in bankruptcy), and I’m still getting threats from bill collectors threatening to sue me.’ “
