What Should I Do? Abusive and Harassing Credit Collector

Are you able to record the phone calls? From I read in another thread it is legal to do so in Kansas.

Dear nextsteps I have Legal Forms i have created for Consumers for these type of situations, and a pamphlet explaining your Rights and Laws. These Debt Collectors dont care about your life. Please let me know if i maybe of service to you.

Best Regards

Here is another thread that talks about National Credit Adjusters, several people on this site have dealt with them.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/paydayloan/nationalcreditadjusters.html

I am not able to record the calls because they are calling me at work. I would have to ask the telephone department to rig something for me and then I feel like my privacy has been compromised because I would have to disclose to my employer what is going on.

Send them a letter that they are not to call you at work...that personal calls are not allowed. If they violate this, you can sue them...

When they call you at home, record it...find a way to record it...find out if Kansas is a 1 or 2 Party state...if it's a 1 Party, you do not need to tell them you are recording...If NCA says that all calls are monitored/recorded, then say good, cuz I'm recording too...then you are covered...and everything is admissable in court.

If you have not DV'd them, then you need to do that right away...if they don't validate, then they can't pursue collection activity.

I agree, it might be time to find a way to record these calls.

Personally, I found it helpful just to tell the person that I am recording the call. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But I start out my phone conversation sweetly, saying that I have to, by law, inform them that I am recording the call. It does seem to change the tone of things, at least for me.

But if you are thinking of suing, you would greatly benefit from recording the calls.

I am a bit confused is it legal for a credit card co. to call you and stat they are going to sue you or send a police officer to your work? I have several debts that I have not paid because i lost a tenant and had to start paying two mortgages. Then partially paying my credit cards. It got so bad that I had to stop paying one mortgage and continue to pay some of my credit cards yet, I have fallen behind like a domino affect. I am not sure if I should go bankrupt or just go with consolidating depts and work with the creditors. It has been really hard to deal with all of this. All this while i was going to school had to stop because of $$. Now one of the credit card companies calling me with threats like they are going to go to my work... I am stressed enough to deal with threats.. Can anyone guide me? About the credit card threats? Is it legal?

ncurls, no, it is not legal for a credit card company to threaten you. And no, they will not come to your work. Nor will they contact your employer.

If you do not pay, the companies will try to contact you for about six - nine months. Towards the end of that time limit (before they have to charge off your account), they will start to offer 'settlements' and interest rate reductions. Sad to say, but true - the only way I was able to get Bank of America to lower my rate from 29.9% was to stop paying on the card for six months. Now the rate is 6% AND they removed all late fees and over the limit charges.

If you don't settle, or begin paying again, they have to decide whether to pursue a legal judgment against you. If they decide not to, then they will sell your account to a collection agency.

In your situation, based upon what you've written here, I think you should investigate Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Your credit is probably already shot by late / partial payments. And you can't keep juggling the bills.

Whatever you decide, good luck. Oh, and yes, the company can state they will sue you. And yes, a police officer will deliver the summons. But to your work? No, that's not the usual routine.

By the way, I would advoid debt management plans. I've never investigated / done debt consolidation so I can't comment on that, but I did attempt debt management with CCCS. They negotiated my rates to 15%. :-) I know - not exactly helpful. And the banks never re-aged the accounts like they were supposed to. DMPs require a lot of constant involvement by you, and I know from personal experience that you can - on your own - get a lower rate.

Good luck!

I work for a debt settlement & credit counseling company. You all should realize that collectors are NOT going to do what they say they will. They are commission based and will say almost ANYTHING to scare you into paying up. Yes, you can get sued, but it's a small chance and they are very unlikely to announce it before doing so. They can't send the cops on you, they can't get you fired, they will not show up at your work, etc. The legality is a grey area, and it's hard to enforce it aside from spending $ on an attorney to sue the creditor if you have the calls recorded. You best bet is to NOT answer collection calls..if they call you at work simply tell them it puts your job in jeopardy (even if thats not true) because they do legally have to stop calling after you say that.

I saw a story not to long ago where an ex-con was able to somehow get the money together, and set up his own collection agency. I can't remember what state this is in, but he was able to start a business collecting debts. His agents got on the phone and pretended that they were with the Maryland Police dept, and threatened consumers...... that if they did not pay on the said debt, that the police would come to their houses! A reporter went undercover and was able to get into the office. They had a hidden camera ( I believe it was hidden) and actually caught a collection agent on camera threatening someone into paying on an account. The camera also survelled the so called "company attorney", running back and forth to a local storefront establishment. Again, I believe camera may have been hidden, he was filmed picking up wired funds from some of the people that the agents at the collection office had been threatening. He picked up three payments when the camera was filming him, but the reporter doing the story said that he, (the co. lawyer) had been going in and out of the storefront most of the day. This collection agency was being investigated. I don't know if they are still running or not. The hidden camera followed the owner around all day to see how he spent his days. He went into the office but didn't stay too long. He's making money because he dresses nice and does'nt have to work because of his sleezy collectors. The reporter and crew went back to the collection agency, and when the reporter told one of the agents who he was and who he was with, they couldn't get him out of there fast enough. When he attempted to interview some of the employees, including the lady (the agent making the threats) caught on the (hidden camera earlier), they avoided him like the plague! One of the agents that kept asking him to leave practically threw the reporter and camera man out, and slammed the door in their faces! On the way out, they ran into the "company attorney". The reporter asked him I believe what law school he went to....no response. The "resident attorney" along with a couple of other people rushed by the reporter, went into a room and closed the door, while refusing to answer any questions. Now don't get me wrong. I believe that just because you have a criminal record, that.. that does'nt mean that you should be denied second chances. I am a huge advocate for the rights of ex-cons. I believe if you do your time, and get out and you are sincere about wanting a second chance, you deserve a descent break! but if you come out of jail and you intend and continue with criminal activity, you need to go back to jail.

If you send them the ceast & desist letter they will stop calling you. I received some threathening calls from NRS collections and USfastcash after sending them those letters via fax, the calls stopped almost immediately. NRS send me only emails now. They even tried cutting the amount they say I owe in half. I already paid the creditor 3x more than I was suppose to. I haven't heard from them in about 3 weeks now. USfastcash got a piece of my mind before I sent them the letter not to call me on my home phone, cell phone or work phone. Don't let these people frighten you.