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Dec 15, 2005 7:04 pm US/Pacific
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Debt Collectors And Your Rights
by Randy Paige
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Americans love credit. They love it so much, they're over $360 billion in debt. More and more debt collectors are going to extremes to get you to pay up.
The next time you get a call from an angry bill collector, remember that even though you may owe some money, you don't have to take any abuse over it. You have rights. And there are federal and state laws that protect you from abusive bill collectors.
Mary is one of the many Americans who are in debt. When she picked up the phone at work one morning, she got the shock of her life. A man on the other line told her you have two hours to get the money you owe us.
When she ran to her boss for help, he was scared too when he learned that they made threats.
Mary owed money, not to the mob, but to a debt collection agency. She was late on a $400 internet loan. "I thought I was going to go to jail because he told me if I didn't get it within two hours that I was going to have a criminal record," she said.
With millions of Americans up to their necks in debt, experts say, collection agents are now becoming more and more abusive, terrorizing consumers.
Here are some intimidating calls from collectors obtained by consumer advocates. "You've got exactly one minute to call me back and tell me what you're going to do…you'll do as you're told…let's get your checkbook out…you asshole."
They curse and use racial slurs; they even threaten physical violence.
Consumer attorney Sonya Smith-Valentine says that's clearly breaking the law. "I've had them call my clients and call them every name in the book, you bitch, you fucking whore, you need to get on a boat and go back to China."
In one outrageous example, a collector for a funeral home threatened, to "rip the bodies" of the plaintiff's parents out of the ground, "put them on his lawn," and chop their heads off.
Mike Flannagan is a former debt collector. He admits to having threatened people if they didn't pay.
Flannagan is now exposing industry abuses. He says he used to take 10 percent of the truth and stretch it into 100 percent of a threat to get you to pay up.
"If I beat you hard enough, long enough, often enough, you'll pay the bill if nothing else to get me to go away," Flannagan said.
Attorney Joseph Mauro says you do have rights. He argues creditors can't garnish your wages. They can't have you arrested and they rarely sue for the money. But you can sue them, if they contact you at inconvenient times or places when you tell them not to or if they call neighbors or co-workers; and if they don't provide you with documentation substantiating the debt.
While Mauro admits that it is an "extremely vicious" procedure, he says, "you shouldn't be ashamed that you may owe the underlying debt."
According to Federal law, bill collectors may not harass, oppress or abuse you. And they must stop contacting you if you ask them to do so in writing.
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