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If you have fallen behind on your credit card payments, you can expect a phone call. OK, you can expect a lot of phone calls. If you are going to attempt to deal with the debt collector on your own, remember that you are going head-to-head with a tough professional that does this everyday for a living.

It pays to know your rights. Keep a detailed record of all of your communications when you speak to them. Note the time and date of the call, the person that you spoke with (get their ID number if they have one) and everything that they said.

Before talking to any debt collector, review the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This is a general “rule book” that the creditors have to play by. Follow this link to better prepare yourself for battle. www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fdc.htm. Many states also have their own “rules of engagement” that you should know. You can find out more about what your state allows a debt collector to do by contacting your local attorney general’s office. Just do a quick Google search; attorney general California debt collector (for example) and there will be a direct link about that States Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

After you have beefed up on the FDCPA, here is what you should do next:

Prioritize your bills. –

No matter what a debt collector says, when you are having financial difficulty, the most important bill to pay is not your credit card bill. Providing for your family comes first. You need to make your mortgage, vehicle, utilities and insurance payments. Provide for groceries and other life essentials as well. If you don’t make your mortgage payments, you run the risk of losing your home to foreclosure. If you don’t make your vehicle payments, you run the risk of having your vehicle repossessed (not to mention that in most cases, you won’t be able to get to work to make money to take care of your bills). Not eating and skipping required medications is not a good idea for obvious reasons.

If you don’t make your credit card payments, they would have to sue you first before they could do anything to you. This process will normally take several months to get to. They can’t garnish your wages or put you in jail or whatever other things a debt collector will say to get you to pay them right away. So remember, take care of your family and your most important bills first.

Estimate how much you can afford to pay. – Read more of this >>

Are you tired of receiving calls or threatening letters from debt collectors? Well these are just among the two approaches that are commonly used to oblige the debtor to pay for their overdue debts. If you want that irritating phone calls and letters to stop, then you need to know the ways on dealing with collection agencies. Sometimes, it is difficult and frustrating to handle problems with debt collectors, but if you chill out and follow the following steps, then you can put a stop to such troubles:

1) Know your rights when dealing with debt collection agencies. Among such rights are:
• You have to be treated fairly and your privacy should be respected. You can ask them not to contact you when you are at work or at a time and place that’s not convenient to you.
• The collection firm should not oppress, harass or abuse you by threatening you, publishing your name or by speaking to you in an obscene way.
• They should not use misleading or false statements when collecting your payments such as implying falsely that you have made a crime, that they are attorneys or representatives from government, or they are working for a credit bureau.
• The agency should not use unfair practices when collecting payments for your debts.

2) Keep great records. When a debt collector contacted you, get information from him/her.

• You should ask for the caller’s name and the agency’s name as well, the address and fax number of the collection firm, the name of the lender and the amount of money allegedly owed.
• Write down the name of the person who’s calling you and a summary of your conversation. Your conversations shouldn’t be taped unless the caller knows that your discussion will be recorded. Also, make sure to keep in file copies of all the physical communications that you have sent and received. Read more of this >>