Stay calm/never pay over phone

Many collection agencies will illegally lie to you to try to scare you into a payment because that agent gets a commission off of whatever they can get from you today! Never let them make you panic. One told my wife that they would put her in jail and garish her wages and she gave them a check over the phone. First of all, a collection agent, not even an attorney can put you in jail, only someone arrested for a CRIMINAL act (debts are civil) or a judge can put you in jail. And if you are in jail, what wages are their to garnish. Its all scare tactics and all illegal, and each one should be reported to the FTC as a violation of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. Each violation is a seperate fine up to a maximum per day (I think the maximum is $10,000 per day). If they want to settle, tell them to stop calling you and put it in a letter. Write a letter to their company ordering a "cease of communications" by telephone and that by mail is the only way you will communicate. After they receive that letter, each call that you report to the FTC is a fine up to that daily maximum.