10 Things debt collectors are not allowed to do

1. They cannot keep calling you over and over again

You should not have to program a special ringtone to avoid their calls, they are mostly limited to three phone calls a week.

2. They cannot call you at ungodly hours

Depending on what country you live in, they are legally allowed to call you between 8am to 9pm Mondays to Saturday and 1pm to 5pm on Sunday. They are not allowed to call you on official holidays. You should not be getting a call on 9am on Christmas morning.

3. They cannot threaten you

They cannot threaten to blab your debt to all your family and friends and they cannot tell you they will sue you when they won’t. That is harassment and illegal.

4. They cannot verbally abuse you

When a debt collector starts swearing at you or calling you names, hang up and immediately put it in writing to their manager.

5.  They cannot talk to anyone about your debt

Debt collectors are allowed to legally speak to your spouse and attorney and no one else. They are allowed to call your employer to verify your information. They are allowed to make this call only once.

6. They cannot share your information

Some misinformed debt collectors have threatened to publish the names of people who are in debt in newspapers. In truth they have a responsibility to keep your debt information private.

7. They cannot report false information about your credit report

They are allowed to tell the truth about what you have not paid, but they are not allowed to lie in any way to ruin your credit record. Make sure you are always well informed about your credit report

8. They cannot lie about who they are

They cannot call you telling you they are the police or a lawyer. They must tell you that they are a debt collector and are calling to collect debt. Always verify this if they do not.

 

9. They cannot lie about what they are doing with your debt

They cannot tell you that they are selling your debt to another agency when that is not what they are doing.

10. You have the right to tell them not to contact you anymore

If you request in writing that they not call you anymore then they have to comply. They will still be responsible for your debt and can pursue legal action after a time and they can then contact you through a lawyer. You also have the right to request in writing that they stop contacting you at work.