Louisiana’s attorney general James Caldwell announced on Friday that his office had gotten a hold of injunctions against two collection agencies and their owners. On the same day, Rob McKenna, Washington’s Attorney General said that his office had settled charges with a collection company that had promised to stay on the straightened arrow. In a press release, Caldwell’s office said that in late December they had obtained an injunction against Bush and Kennedy, Inc, a Baton Rouge based collection agency. The order he won placed restrictions on the business, banning them from operating further, and specifically, ordered that two of the firm’s principals, Quay W. Pattott Jr, and William S. Fesguson were banned from conducting business together.

Late last week, a judge slammed Ferguson and Parrott with added injunctions as per the request of Caldwell’s office. Ferguson is banned from using unfair and deceptive practices and acts at his current place of business, Franklin, Grant and Associates Incorporated, a collection company based out of Metairie Louisiana. Parrott is completely restricted against conducting any new business at his new place of work, Metairie based Halsey and Associates, LLC.

McKenna’s Washington office said that Topco Financial Services Inc, a Washington based collection agency agreed not to threaten, harass or curse out debtors as part of a settlement. The collection agency has been ordered to pay around $38,000 in legal fees and penalties. An additional $82,000 in fees and penalties were suspended provided that the company agrees with the settlement terms.

As per the agreement, Topco is restricted from harassing, intimidating, threatening and embarrassing debtors, including using profanity. They are banned from implying that failure to pay a delinquent bill will result in suspension, a revocation, or impairment of the debtor’s driver’s license. They are no longer allowed to threaten debtors with impairment of their credit rating. However, the company is allowed to legally report debts to credit reporting agencies.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection company. She also composes articles on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

Debts are a civil matter, not a criminal one, and jail time is not even a retribution for failing to pay delinquent bills. “It’s extremely important for consumers to know that there is no such thing as debtor’s prison” Garrett says, rolling her eyes and smiling.

If bill collectors are making unlawful threats like physical violence, deportation and jail time, you can always report the harassment to the Federal Trade Commission or to your state attorney general’s office. The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits bad behavior by third party collectors. These people do not follow the same rules as those who are collecting for the creditors directly. They are not allowed to call you at your place of employment if you ask them to stop, publish or threaten to publish your debt, reveal to anyone else that you may have a debt, harass you on the phone or use profanity. The laundry list continues.

They can’t use loss of child custody, deportation, illegal punishment like jail, or physical harm. They cannot call your home before eight AM or after 9 PM or even call at all if you have already written a request asking them to cease contact, or if you’ve hired a lawyer.

One older woman from New Jersey owed $12,000 in credit card debt after placing every day living expenses on her card. The bill collector called and informed her that they were going to take her home. She was also informed that they were not willing to take a penny less than the $12,000 she owed, and furthermore, they wanted it now. She tried to scrape up the money herself but couldn’t. “Debt collection companies are very intelligent when it comes to doing research. They will threaten targeted assets like a home or income source. But in many states, homes are protected from debt collection,

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. She also writes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

Staying in delinquency will simply make your credit score lower, and the longer you wait, the harder your score will be hit. Just one thirty day late payment can cause your score to drop by up to one hundred and ten points. Ninety days? You are currently three times as late with your card payment, and you are only getting later as more time passes by.

Coming up with extra cash to make your payments might just be worth your while. Take a close look at your finances and budget. Is there anything in your budget that can be adjusted, or anything you owe that can be sold? Use any extra money to pay your debt and prevent any further damage to your credit score. For a lot of us, budgeting isn’t as easy as that. If you need outside help, seek out a credit counselor. They will get to the bottom of the issue, and find a solution for you.

Also, you can also have the option to file for bankruptcy. This means that you won’t have to repay the debt, but filing will cause your credit to be hurt even more than a debt settlement, by as much as two hundred and forty points. If you are thinking about bankruptcy, have a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney to discuss the details.

All told, experts say that talking to a good credit counselor is the best choice. They can assist you when it comes to assessing your financial situation, offer possible alternative choices, and show you how not to make the same mistakes at any point in the future.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a medical debt collection agency.

Wouldn’t it be fun to deliver a little pay back – so the world’s collection agencies get a little taste of the pie they’ve dished out to others over the years? Well, in the interest of keeping the playing field leveled – and to have a laugh – here’s a few ideas to put into play, that might balance the scales a bit if you’re ever stuck in a predicament where you’re phone has become the enemy:

“No means No” – If you pick up the phone one day, and hear a mechanical-sounding voice ask you to stay on the line if you are the intended party, or hang up the phone if you’re not – then you’re most likely in touch with a collection agency. Now, at this point, you can do one of two things. The first being to just hang up the phone – this choice means you’re telling the caller they’ve reached the wrong person. However, this doesn’t prevent them from calling again in the future. This is because debtors who pull this move, often forget they’ve given out their real phone number when they apply for credit. But the debt agencies are not that stupid – and will try again and again to reach you.

The other thing you can do is much more satisfying, as you turn the tables and get to harass them back. For this to work – don’t hang up the phone, just wait for the message to play out. Eventually, a live person will come on the line to grill you about your debt. This is the time to strike. Before your caller even identifies himself, start screaming and carrying on like the world is ending. Repeat over and over, that you are NOT the person they’re looking for, you’re sick of being “spied” on through the phone line – and mention that this experience is making your mind “condition” much worse. Be sure to repeat some variation of this same scene, each time someone from a collections agency calls you. Doing this is harassment to them. Have patience and give it a good month – their calls should start to taper off on their own, very soon.

“Speak in a weird language” – This works even if you do pick up the phone, and suddenly realize the person asking for you is a debt representative. When they ask for you, say something like, “Just a moment and I’ll go get him.” Then say loudly – so they hear you – “It’s for you”. Wait a few moments, then pick it up, pretending to be someone who can’t speak a stitch of the national language. Trudge through anything they say, and make sure to throw in a few semi-coherent one syllable answers to certain questions – so they think you might understand them after all. When they’re starting to feel like they have the upper hand again, suddenly go into “gibberish overdrive”, and act like you’re confused. You will find that the agency may start to decrease their phone attacks after a while.

Be a “clinging” vine – This is a great way to chase collection agencies off! Just pretend to be starved for human contact in any form, and act needy. Right away, explain how you’d really love to pay your debts, however “your recently diagnosed incurable, extra strength dose of leprosy” prevents you from doing anything at all – except for sitting in a darkened room, and feeling lonely as your limbs drop off, one by one. Then, to keep them captive, go off into an hour-long rant about each symptom and detail of your “condition”. Direct the conversation to a personal level, and bore the caller with stories of your early years – including every shattered dream and your many regrets. If they insist on having to go, ask them for their home phone number, so you can call them back when they’re off work – pin them down to a “time” when they’ll be available. After a couple of sessions from you, you probably won’t have to take many collection calls, at least for a a few weeks.

Although not in the “nice” category – it’s fun to imagine how a collection agency would respond to these “paybacks” for their past torture tactics. And you can try this yourself if you’re ever in the unfortunate position, and things get heavy with rude phone calls – or not. But the real intention behind this piece was to cast some laughter on a somber situation – so the reader can see there is always a light at the end of every tunnel – no matter how bad things seem to be at the time.

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Other collectors work straight for the original creditors; these people are known as in house collectors. Generally these are finance-based businesses like mortgage and credit card companies, health care providers or utility companies.

No matter what entity they work for, the goals of debt collectors are the same. First, they’re called upon to locate people or businesses that are in debt, and let them know that they are delinquent. Usually this will be over the phone, but sometimes they send letters.

When debtors (people in debt) move without leaving a forwarding address, bill collectors might check with telephone companies, the post office, credit bureaus and former neighbors to get the new address. This practice is called “skip tracing.” They will utilize computer systems to automatically track when companies or people change their contact information or addresses on any of their open accounts.

Once the bill collectors locate debtors they tell them about the delinquent accounts and request payment. If it’s needed, they will go over the terms of sale, or credit contracts. A good bill collector is a sneaky one. They’ll probably use their listening skills to try to figure out the cause of the delinquency.

Usually, they will have the authority to offer a repayment plan or some other aid to make it easier for people to pay off the money that they owe. Sometimes they are able to find solutions to the financial problem. They may even give useful advice or refer people to debt counselors.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. She also composes articles on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

Request the name of the the creditor,the person calling and the agency’s address and fax number. You have the authority to tell a collector over the phone that you want all future contact to be in writing. Follow up all requests with a written request.

Keep in mind if you tell the collector not to contact you at all it is entitled to call you once more to let you know how it plans to proceed. Another request that can be made is that you are the only person that should be contacted. It might be a good idea to keep a file including dates and details of phone conversations and when you send or receive letters.

If you do send any correspondence in writing to the collections company do this by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. Utilizing this service guarantees that the letter reached the collector, giving you a signed receipt as proof. If you work out a re-payment plan over the phone, request the terms of the plan in writing. Any promise to remove or adjust credit history should also definitely be documented.

Make sure that you pay the right party; payments should be made out to the collections agency, not the creditor, unless you have been otherwise instructed to do so. Carefully look over the amount you are being asked to pay. Get to know how much interest, fees or charges that have been added.

If you feel like your bill collector is being abusive or hostile, make sure that you mention it to the agency and always keep this complaint on file. The last thing to remember is do not ignore a collector. Even if you feel that the debt is not yours; they will continue to call and it may mean more trouble and time in the long run.

Mallory Megan writes articles on business, finance, the credit industry and collection agencies.

Typically, the problem begins with one missed payment. This missed payment will likely mean that you are assessed a late penalty, which in turn might mean that you exceed your credit limit. When this happens you are assessed another penalty because of credit limit overages. Now, you may be $100 or so over your credit limit and you still haven’t paid your monthly minimum payment.

Before things get worse, it is best to contact your credit card provider and explain your situation. Most credit card providers are willing to work with you. It is best to put a stop to things at this point instead of letting things get out-of-hand, resulting in the credit card provider selling your debt to a credit card collection agency.

Debt sold to a credit card collection agency will normally be purchased at a fraction of what you actually owe, typically for cents on the dollar. As credit card collection agencies make their bread and butter from collecting as much as possible from those who owe debt which they have subsequently purchased, they may at times be harassing and even threaten legal action.

In reality, most credit card collection agencies would prefer to work with you to obtain payment of the debt than to launch a legal action which will be time-consuming and costly. If at all possible, this would be a good time to offer to pay the debt in full at a reduced amount. Make sure that the resulting agreement is in writing, that you retain copies of all the negotiation documentation, and mail all correspondence to the credit card collection agency by certified mail, return receipt requested.

Typically, it is a good idea to begin the negotiation somewhere around 25% of the original balance. Though this sounds low, remember that the collection company probably purchased your entire debt at only about 10% of the original amount. It is likely that the collection company will decline this offer and will issue a counteroffer, which you then should counter as well. This will continue until you either come to an agreement or the negotiations discontinue.

If no agreement is reached, the credit card collection agency may lose the momentum for collecting your debt. It may determine that collecting a smaller amount is better than nothing at all. It may also decide that selling the debt to another credit card collection agency is a better idea. If this happens, the process will begin yet again and run its course.

It is good to remember that at any point in this process, beginning with the credit card provider itself, a legal action could be filed against you. Additionally, your credit score is continually and quickly decreasing. A court judgment will annihilate your credit score even more.

Midland Credit Management Ruined my Life. What I Did to Get Revenge.

A collection, also known as a charge-off, is an old debt the original creditor has given up trying to collect. At the point your debt becomes a charge-off, it is sold to a third party collection agency. collection agencies are hired because they are experts at getting you to pay.

Will My Credit Score Be Affected By a Collection?

Once a debt has been sold, the way it is reported on your credit record changes from bad (late bill) to terrible (collection). Collections may appear in various forms on your credit report including: unpaid collection, paid collection, or collection – paid or settled for less.

Lenders look for charge-offs, even if they are eventually paid, because this will alert them to the fact that you once defaulted. This type of credit activity will serve as a red flag to them.

Can Collections Be Removed?

The short answer is YES! Collections do not have to stay on your credit report for the next 7 years. Quite the opposite is true.

A collection can remain on your credit report for quite some time and credit bureaus and creditors have no reason to remove erroneous entries unless you dispute the information. As such, it remains up to you to contact and convince the relevant companies that they should erase the negative entry. Only you have a stake is cleaning up your credit.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to challenge any negative entries listed on your credit report. A copy of your credit report will need to be obtained in order to review the listed information and determine which collection agencies are present. You should not expect your credit reports to be the same as the credit bureaus maintain a separate file on your credit activities.

The general idea is that you must challenge each and every negative mark on your report. Quite often this process will remove several negative items without any further work.

If a Dispute is Denied, What Are My Options?

If you cannot convince a credit bureau to erase a negative collection from your credit report, you might want to consider obtaining some legal guidance as you move forward. An attorney who is knowledgeable in credit matters can be invaluable at this stage of the game.

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