3 On Your Side: Debt Collection Harassment
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Debt collection harassment is on the rise! That's according to the most recent findings from the Federal Trade Commission. As 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan reports, it's illegal and if it happens to you, you need to know your rights.
After Tammy Henshaw's daughter died and she couldn't afford to pay the funeral bill, she started getting calls from a collection agency that was hired to collect the debt.
Among the things that they told her were quote, "You're a piece of crap," "You need to pay this bill. You need to pay this bill crackerhead." Tammy says, "They told me they was going to dig my daughter up and hang her by a tree."
At that point Tammy started recording the messages that she was receiving from the collection agency. The harassing calls continued with the debt collectors saying quote, "that's when she started recording their messages. "We are going to have your dog arrested, we are going to shoot him and we are going to eat him." She even received a death threat. The caller said, "Are you going to pay this bill or not, or am I going to have to kill you?"
Cynthia Lieu had a similar experience with debt collectors. She was getting calls from a collection agency that was trying to get her to pay a bill that wasn't even hers!
She says, "Very abusive, very ugly sort of tone in his voice." Cynthia adds, "He said you have two hours to find the money, I can have a sheriff over to your house lickety split."
"They make up anything," says attorney Craig Kimmel, "These guys, they're ex-cons, they're uneducated typically, meaning that their not really taught what the law is and how to abide by it. And they get paid on commission, the more you collect, the more you get paid."
Kimmel says that as the economy tanked, he's heard more of these types of stories.
According to Kimmel, "When I sue debt collectors, a lot of them tell me that they're not doing so well, so they are getting desperate too. Absolutely we've seen a lot of ramp up of what they are doing and what they are saying."
Federal law prevents prohibits threats, intimidation and even calls late at night or early morning.
The key thing to remember according to Kimmel, "If it's not civil towards you, it's upsetting, abusive, harassing, that's a good indication that your rights have been violated."
If you feel that you're being harassed by a collection agency, you don't have to talk to them, just hang up the phone. You do have rights under the fair debt collection practices act.
For more information, click on the link below:
Federal Trade Commission:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm
Craig Kimmel:
http://www.creditlaw.com/
Reported By Jim Donovan, CBS 3
