Debt collectors phone calls??

Ok lately we have fallen on some hard times and fallen behind in our credit card payments -- we've paid them but  some not for all the amt due or maybe a week or 2 late than due- but we've been doing our best to get back on track.  Its gotten to the point where I am affraid to answer the phone cause its always a debt collector or credit card company. 

My question is I was told years ago that credit agencies can not make these calls on Sunday's its against the law its considered unreasonalbe hours  - like they can only call between 8am and 9pm - but is it true this is only for colleciton agencies and not credit card companies??

 

I felt somewhat safe to answer my phone this  morning but lo and behold it was a credit card company I told them you can't call me on a sunday its agains the law and he said it wasn't I said well I'm not talking to you today its Sunday and you can call again tomorrow and hung up

But anyway is it true that the original debtor can call on a sunday to collect??  And only the no sunday calls applies to collection agencies??

 

Anyone know for sure?  Here I thought I'd have at least one day to answer the phone with no fear LOL

You need to learn to have fun with them... Inquire when they plan to pay you the listed ammount, when they question what you're saying say "The bill says XXX.XX is to be paid... so when will i see that money?"    and when they try to explain it to them, tell them when they are mature enough and resoponsible enough to pay their outstanding debt with you they can call back and hang up abruptly...  the one agency just stoped calling me after a week of crap like that and just resorted to mail... ^_^.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies if it's a third-party creditor (i.e. a collection agency or a debt purchasor).  If it's the original creditor, state law applies.  Wikipedia has a good article on debt collection. 

I'm not aware of any restriction against calling on Sunday unless that's the law of your state.  If you don't want them to call you, just send them  a letter telling them not to.

dbackerfan, another thing you can probably do to reduce the bothersome calls is to talk to them and make an arrangement to pay back that works for you.  It costs them money to call you, and they lose money when people don't pay, so it is often possible to make arrangements.

Others who have had more experience than me on the details of dealing with creditors can speak up and give more specific advice.

I've asked them to call weekdays between this and that time to reach whomever they wanted to reach, they never listen.  After several years, they're still calling the house line, refusing to leave a message, and instead calling back every hour.  I'm like, "Lady, you can call me every half hour but she really isn't going to be home until after six." and they bitch me out for being rude.

We get calls every day from 8 AM until 10 PM.  All day.  Like, seriously, three calls an hour.  Most of them are hang-up calls.  As soon as we answer, there's silence, and they hang up. 

For the most part, I take messages.  If they call during normal business hours, I'll be nice and take a message when I'm home.  I let them know I can't promise anyone will call back, 'cause that's their personal decision, not mine, but I'll give them the message.  And I make sure to write it down, 'cause I've had them ask me to repeat the number and even call back within minutes of hanging up with me to ask me to repeat the number.

If they call on a weekend or after business hours, I have fun, pretend I've known them for years, they're my long lost friend, start catchin' up on chit chat.  I'll ask them to bring me home a box of tampons and a few Hostess products on their way home from work.  I'll let my nephew answer the phone and he'll demand to watch Choo Choo or Blues Clues, push buttons, say bye and hang up.  One day I told everyone the party they were trying to reach was in a horrible accident and if they called me again before I heard back from them to find out which hospital they were taken to I was going to sue them for harassment. 

If they ask for my mom by her maiden name I say nobody here lives by that name.  If they ask for my dad and mispronounce his last name, I say nobody here lives by that name.  Sometimes I'll answer and pretend to be a fictional business and sometimes I'll pretend to not speak English.  I know enough Japanese and mock Japanese to get me through that situation.

I won't get the joys and delights of this much longer.  Momma's getting the phone number changed and unlisted because of all the calls we get where nobody tells us what it's about, but rather leaves a 1800 number, or the silence and hang up calls.

If you can, when they call write down their information, ask them to let you figure out your finances and schedule a time when to call that particular person back to speak with them and discuss a payment plan.  If other people from the company call, tell them you're already working with so and so and to have a nice day.

My mom's been getting lots of hang-up calls too CD, she thinks they're telemarketers.

The hang ups are actually the companies discovering what time people are home so if you answer the phone the computer hangs up and notes what time someone answered then call you back in a day or two at the same time with an actual live person.

We answer the phone.  They don't always like what we have to say when we answer the phone, but we answer it.  Unless we're screening calls, but we tend to not do that 'cause nobody in our family leaves messages either.

WE don't have caller ID so we don't screen calls.  Usually no one but family calls the house but in the lst month this has not been the case so I answer it like a dummy.

I got in some trouble with my credit card and a collection agency right after I graduated from college.
The best thing is just to talk to them and work out a plan. Explain your situation. If you're sincere and work out something with them and make those payments, it'll be fine.
My debt collector guy was always very friendly and polite because I was the same to him. He understood my situation and did everything he could to help me get it straightened out. I ended up moving back in with my mom so I could pay it off quicker but it worked.  

Now if I could just make these student loan payments go away...

Call them and ask if they can work with you.  If you are on the receiving end of the call, they usually aren't very nice or polite, but if you call them, it shows you are making an effort.  Is there any way you can jumble things around, refinance, or consolidate?  If you can, that might buy you some time.  I have been there before in 1997 and I know how hard it can be, but we made it though.  Right now, we are very close to it happening again, not with credit, but with everything else.  Our fuel bills have been astronomical this winter, and we were not prepared.  We just ordered fuel last week and I am looking at 193 gallons at 3.94.  The bill totaled $764.53.  Winter isn't over for us just yet. 

 Good luck to you!

Beachwalker is completely right.  YOU should call them.  First, sit down and figure out your finances.  What do you owe, to whom, what's the interest rate for each debt.  Then figure out how much, in total, you can afford to pay and decide how you can/should pay it.  After you've figured that out, call each company and discuss your situation and how much you can and will pay and when you will pay.  They will work with you if you make the effort to call them, especially if your debt has been caused by unexpected, uncontrollable issues like healthcare, loss of employment, or a disaster (house burnt down...).

Though it must really suck to have these people calling all the time, I can't really blame them.  You made purchases outside of your (possibly non-existent) budget.  The companies want and deserve to be paid.  They will work with you to see that it happens or harrass you until you're forced to do it.  Your choice.

Here are some sites to help you budget if you're not sure how to go about it.

http://www.budgetadvice.com/

http://financialplan.about.com/msubbudg.htm

http://www.personalfinancebudgeting.com/creat ing_a_budget.php

 

Check the laws in your state, and determine whether or not you can request mail only contact.

Original Post by alibuch:

I got in some trouble with my credit card and a collection agency right after I graduated from college.
The best thing is just to talk to them and work out a plan. Explain your situation. If you're sincere and work out something with them and make those payments, it'll be fine.
My debt collector guy was always very friendly and polite because I was the same to him. He understood my situation and did everything he could to help me get it straightened out. I ended up moving back in with my mom so I could pay it off quicker but it worked.  

Now if I could just make these student loan payments go away...

I don't know about the Sunday thing, but...

Right-on to working out a plan for sure.  I did the same thing in college.  They'll call you less if you set up a plan and then stick to your word.  They should be asking you what you can afford to pay per month.  They'd rather get something from you than nothing at all.  They may also cut you a deal on interest rates, or suspending late fees/over limit fees while you're on a repayment schedule.

In my experience, the nicer you are to them, the nicer they are to you.  With the exception of the occassional a*hole.

Right-on to damn student loan payments.  They're a killer.  Makes me sad :(

haha I had mine automatically come out of my account the day after I got paid so I had NO excuss to not pay it. My collector never called me except to check in and make sure things were going okay and to see if I wanted to pay it off early. When I was finished paying it off I was like WTF!? $300 a month! Wooo. Instead of saving it, I blew it. haha But it was fun for a few months before I moved overseas.

But what do you do when they won't listen? I freelance and sometimes have more than a few weeks between projects, which I usually get paid at the end of. So recently I've been pulling in a lot of work and I know when I'm getting paid so when they called I told them I will pay in full in X weeks. They gave me the schpiel about late fees, and I told them I know, I've already factored those in, but I can't pay before then. I'm REALLY in a tight spot right now. If I pay before then, I can't get to work and if I can't get to work, I can't pay you. I had to repeat this to the same company 4 days in a row because they kept calling like we'd never had that conversation, even though every time we spoke they supposedly put it in their computer.

More info on the Fair Debt Collection Law:

 

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/fai r_debt_collection.html

 

NACA: An INDEPENDENT group that tries to help people with debt (most "non-profit credit counselor" outfits are RUN BY THE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES, and their agenda is to keep you paying)

http://www.naca.net

Debt Collection Activist Bud Hibbs:

http://www.budhibbs.com

ACORN

http://www.acorn.org/

 

Please look into these resources.  Personally, I changed my number and they only get voice mail now.  If your debt is something that you could conceivably pay off in 5 years or so, then by all means, make arrangements with the creditors, preferably using an outfit NOT run by the credit card industry.  But if you crunch the numbers and find that you will be paying on this stuff for 40 years (that was the position I was in when I defaulted) no matter how low they make the interest for you, then you may want to consider bankruptcy.  I had 2 kids to feed and servicing all of the debt in addition to the soaring cost of living was keeping me from even buying the basics for them.  Seriously, please get some good IMPARTIAL advice and don't be fooled by the words "non-profit" in the names of the Credit Counselor outfits.

Original Post by selise:

But what do you do when they won't listen? I freelance and sometimes have more than a few weeks between projects, which I usually get paid at the end of. So recently I've been pulling in a lot of work and I know when I'm getting paid so when they called I told them I will pay in full in X weeks. They gave me the schpiel about late fees, and I told them I know, I've already factored those in, but I can't pay before then. I'm REALLY in a tight spot right now. If I pay before then, I can't get to work and if I can't get to work, I can't pay you. I had to repeat this to the same company 4 days in a row because they kept calling like we'd never had that conversation, even though every time we spoke they supposedly put it in their computer.

That is what they do.  People in the collections industry are scumbags.  They bully and cajole and manipulate and use your good conscience against you.  They will do anything to get you to pay ANY amount, like $50 or 100.  If you are in default, this will do absolutely NOTHING to pay down the debt, and in many cases will RESET the statute of limitations on an old debt.  I would not waste one minute talking to collections scumbags on the phone.    If you feel like you can start paying down the debt, then go through an independent credit counselor or a lawyer to get the payments set up.  You don't want to deal with collector scum.  If the debt is really overwhelming, don't hesitate to file for bankruptcy.  As tough as things are now, they are going to be much tougher in the next couple of years, and being saddled with payments that eat up half your income may not be the best thing.

I am at my wits end, and have started forwarding their calls to voicemail. I am ecstatic about being this close to being debt free and feel a huge weight lifting off my shoulders, but at the same time, it's like they're trying to drive me into the ground with stress over money that they will have in a few weeks. I can't make time move any faster, if I could, just this once, I would.

I would not waste one minute talking to collections scumbags on the phone.    If you feel like you can start paying down the debt, then go through an independent credit counselor or a lawyer to get the payments set up.  You don't want to deal with collector scum.

They're only a-holes if you are to them...

Original Post by udokier:

Original Post by selise:

But what do you do when they won't listen? I freelance and sometimes have more than a few weeks between projects, which I usually get paid at the end of. So recently I've been pulling in a lot of work and I know when I'm getting paid so when they called I told them I will pay in full in X weeks. They gave me the schpiel about late fees, and I told them I know, I've already factored those in, but I can't pay before then. I'm REALLY in a tight spot right now. If I pay before then, I can't get to work and if I can't get to work, I can't pay you. I had to repeat this to the same company 4 days in a row because they kept calling like we'd never had that conversation, even though every time we spoke they supposedly put it in their computer.

That is what they do.  People in the collections industry are scumbags.  They bully and cajole and manipulate and use your good conscience against you.  They will do anything to get you to pay ANY amount, like $50 or 100.  If you are in default, this will do absolutely NOTHING to pay down the debt, and in many cases will RESET the statute of limitations on an old debt.  I would not waste one minute talking to collections scumbags on the phone.    If you feel like you can start paying down the debt, then go through an independent credit counselor or a lawyer to get the payments set up.  You don't want to deal with collector scum.  If the debt is really overwhelming, don't hesitate to file for bankruptcy.  As tough as things are now, they are going to be much tougher in the next couple of years, and being saddled with payments that eat up half your income may not be the best thing.

 I strongly disagree with this. My job consists of credit/collections at times, all over the phone..and I want to do it full time, being the person who actually comes to the door to collect. I am by no means "collector scum" and neither are any of the people I work with. Yes, times are tough..and the best way for a company to understand your sitation is to CALL them. No company knows what is going on in your life, and when you plan to pay/what you plan to pay, unless you keep in contact. And, as someone mentioned..it is YOUR debt, and it is your responsibility to pay it. Of course they will try to get you to pay anything you can..YOU OWE IT. My advice is to call the companies you owe money to, set up payment arrangements that are suitable for both you and them, and stick them. If something comes up, and you must change these arrangements, be proactive! Call before the arranged date. Don't pretend as though the debt doesn't exsist, and then get angry when you are called, sent letters, or worse yet, cut off.

I know there are some very rude collectors out there..and I am by no means excusing it..but keep in mind in some cases they HAVE to be that way.

 

As for filing for bankruptcy, think long and hard before doing so. Yes, it helps relieve debt..but be prepared to pay a pretty large deposit before setting anything up into your name in the future.