Getting Debt Collection Harassment To End
Debt collectors calling about paying a debt that is owed is a conversation that many people have experienced over the last decade. Many individuals that work for debt collection agencies are respectful of the people they are contacting, but some companies abuse the trust of the people by trying to collect past debts that the individual is not legally obligated to pay.
Understanding Debt Expiration
Expired debts are debts that have been in existence for more than seven years without any type of activity on the account. Legally, a person is not obligated to pay these debts because of a legal statute of limitations placed on collections of debts that are older than seven years. These laws were created to prevent collection agencies from collecting on debts that are impossible to validate. Even though attempting to collect this type of debt is unlawful, there are debt collection agencies that try to collect these debts. They rely on a person’s lack of knowledge of debt collection laws to collect money they are not legally entitled to obtain.
Why Attempt To Collect These Debts?
The debt collection companies purchase debt from the original creditors for pennies on the dollar. If they can collect any portion of the original debt, it is pure profit for the debt collection agency. Because of this, some debt collection companies use highly aggressive collection tactics to obtain as much money as they can. These unscrupulous companies want to get the individual to pay the debt more quickly without asking too many questions about what is owed.
What Is The Solution?
If a debt collection company is contacting you to try collecting on a debt that is more than 7 years old, you can inform the debt collection agency that you are fully aware of the laws and any further attempts to collect that debt will result in a report under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In some cases, alerting the companies is not enough as there have been cases where representatives of the company have changed dates to reflect current activity on the account to extend the period of time the debt is valid. The company should be reported under the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act and you can take the collection agency to small claims court to have them pay damages for harassing you about a debt.
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