Handling. Collection Calls

Transcription

1 Hadlig the Collectio Calls We do everythig we ca to stop collectio calls; however, i the early part of our represetatio, you ca expect some of these calls to cotiue. We uderstad that the first few moths ca be difficult. That is why we are providig you with this critical iformatio to help you get through this challegig time... ad let you kow what to do if you feel a collector has crossed the lie PALAW (7252)

2 Kow Your Rights Uder Federal Law, your origial creditor has a right to cotact you, uless their calls rise to the level of harassmet. Your creditor may also tur your debt over to a professioal debt collector who must stop cotactig you whe you otify them i writig. The Fair Debt Collectio Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law desiged to stop harassmet by collectio agecies. Collectors will try to pressure you to make paymet ad sometimes they cross the lie. You may have a claim uder the FDCPA if a collector egages i ay of these harassig behaviors: Threates to have you arrested or sactioed crimially Threates physical abuse of you or a family member Threates to publish your ame o a list Calls you at very early or late hours (before 8 am or after 9 pm) Uses obscee or profae laguage i attemptig to collect a debt Tells your employer or your frieds that you owe them moey Makes repeated calls to you i a attempt to harass you Falsely represets that papers set to you came from a court whe they did ot If a debt collector does ay of these thigs, write it dow ad let us kow about it. We keep records of such evets ad will take actio agaist them where appropriate.

3 Stad Up For Your Rights You Ca Stop the Harassmet. If at ay time you feel that a creditor has crossed the lie i their efforts to collect o the moey you owe, write it dow, ad call us right away at You may have a claim uder the FDCPA. We do ot charge ay additioal fees to pursue these matters. The FDCPA dictates that the harassig collector must pay our fees ad costs. You Have Negotiatig Power. Your creditors, ad ay debt collectors they may have hired, realize that we are a law firm. They kow that the moey you ve paid ito your attorey trust accout ca be used to pay for a bakruptcy just as easily as it ca be used to pay your creditors. The creditor wats moey. They kow they are far better off dealig with your attoreys o a compromise of your debt rather tha forcig you to use federal bakruptcy law to discharge all of your debt PALAW (7252)

4 Puttig Debt Collectio I Perspective Whe you become a cliet of Persels & Associates, we sed out letters demadig that debt collectors stop callig you. This is called a cease ad desist letter. A third party debt collector (debt collector), someoe who is tryig to collect the debt for someoe else, must stop callig you whe they receive our letter. Despite the fact that it s agaist the law, some debt collectors will call you ayway, so please keep these thigs i mid: Do t let debt collectors make you feel guilty. You are doig everythig you ca to repay your debts. Had you chose bakruptcy, the creditor would likely get othig. You did t get ito debt expectig to pay 30% puitive iterest fees. Debt collectors have oly oe goal gettig moey. Collectors get paid based o how much moey they ca get from you. That is their oly iterest. They do t care about you or your situatio. If you give i ad give them moey just to ed the harassmet, you are oly ecouragig them ad other debt collectors to harass you more.

5 Do t give debt collectors moey uless it s bee coordiated with our firm. Other debt collectors ca look at your credit report ad see that you ve made a paymet. That may cause a feedig frezy of calls ad make it harder for us to egotiate. Creditor oly have a certai umber of years to collect o a debt. Paymet o a debt may re-set the caledar o this collectio period. Debt collectors will say aythig to get you to pay. Debt collectors ofte make false claims. This icludes questioig our firm s itegrity or sayig they wo t deal with your legal team. This is osese: Our firm has over 150 lawyers i all 50 states ad we work i oe of the most highly regulated professios o earth. We ve settled hudreds of millios of dollars i debts for substatial discouts. Frequetly, debt collectors will tell you they have t received our cease ad desist letter. That s usually ot true. They keep very detailed records of all commuicatios with you ad with us. Eve if the perso you re speakig with has o record of it, they did receive the letter ad they are legally boud to obey it. Tell them you are documetig the call, get their address, the call us ad we ll be happy to sed aother.

6 Debt collectors will threate to sue you. Do t paic - law suits ca be maaged. First, may creditors will threate suit, but wo t actually file oe for may reasos, especially because it costs them moey. Eve if they do get a judgmet agaist you, their optios for collectig moey from you may be severely limited by state or federal law. We ca t stop a creditor from filig suit to collect what they thik you owe. Merely havig a suit filed agaist you, however, is t the ed of the world. If you are sued, your attorey is here to assist you. We ll evaluate the case ad advise you of ay defeses available to you. We ll tell you what the creditor ca ad caot do. We ll prepare aswers to the complait ad walk you through the process. Remember, it may take may moths for a creditor to get through the court process. Durig that time you re amassig moey with which to settle the claim, which is what they wat. Sometimes paymet plas you ca live with ca be worked out with the creditor s attoreys who also do t get paid uless they actually collect somethig. The debt collector may ot deal with us, but his attorey usually will.

7 Dealig With The Call Itself If you have a aswerig machie, use it to idetify a caller. Let it take a message. If you do get a message from a debt collector, DO NOT RETURN THE CALL. Give the ame ad phoe umber to us. We will call them. If you receive a call from your origial creditor, do the followig: Obtai the ame ad cotact iformatio from each creditor who cotacts you. Write this dow alog with the date ad time of the call. Keep a otebook by your phoe to keep a log of all creditor calls. Verbally iform the caller that they must cotact our office, but they are ot to cotact you ay loger. Say, Please stop commuicatig with me about this debt. I have hired the law offices of Persels & Associates, LLC, to help me with my debts. They are my attorey ad are authorized to speak with you regardig my debt. You may cotact them at If you receive a call from a collectio agecy or a attorey, do the followig: Verbally iform them that, as per the letter they have received or will receive from us shortly, they may cotact our office at , but they are ot to cotact you ay loger.

8 Check Out These Helpful Olie Resources at You ca take advatage of free fiacial tools ad useful iformatio by visitig Listed below are just some of the resources available to you: Myperselsaccout.com Gives you a quick look at iformatio about your accout, ad easy access to valuable ews, tools, ad tips that ca help you o your jourey to becomig debt-free. Commuity Forums Coect with others i a similar situatio ad fid out how they hadle the day-to-day challeges of beig i debt. You ca also ask questios about your fiacial situatio, as well as read aswers to other cliets questios. Blogs You ll have access to a wide rage of blogs that ca provide practical advice o maagig your fiaces for every stage of life. Persels & Associates We are a full-service law firm. I additio to advice cocerig compromises with your creditors, we are available to assist you with problems related to other issues, such as employmet, divorce, child support, real estate, ad bakruptcy. These services are provided at very modest additioal fees. If we ca help you with ay of these other legal services, call us at PALAW (7252).