Collections Collectors and Credit Repair

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Telephone Common Sense

Credit repair offers several powerful techniques for dealing with collectors. Collectors are famous for high pressure phone calls. Here is a great way to manage those disturbing diatribes. You know better than to talk to strangers. So who told you that you should hold court with a collector on the phone? The next time a collector calls tell them that you do not discuss your financial affairs on the phone. Politely ask them to send something in writing. They will fight you, but stand your ground, say your bit, and get off the phone. Once you get the collection notice in writing you can move on to the next credit repair technique.

Validate That Debt

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires collectors to provide documentation of the validity of a debt in writing if you request it within thirty days of receiving a collection notice. This is a wonderful credit repair tool which should be employed with all collections. A surprising number of active collections are not legitimate. This means that they may have been previously paid, sold to other collectors, or be otherwise invalid. If a collector cannot document the subject collection they must halt all collection efforts and not report to the credit bureaus.

Stop Those Darn Calls

In addition to the common sense technique for handling collection phone calls mentioned above there are other handy credit repair techniques for controlling aggressive collectors. If you are called during working hours you need only inform the collector that your employer does not permit such calls. Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, once informed, the collector must refrain from calling during those hours.

The Attorney Defense

This next credit repair tactic is not for everyone, but if you have the financial resources to employ an attorney to handle your collection activity you will enjoy a double benefit. Initially you get to enjoy the moment when you tell the collector that you have an attorney; once informed they are required to stop in their tracks and ask you for the attorney contact info. From that point forward they must communicate only with your attorney. Secondly you may find that many collectors give up on the spot. If they know that the collection is weak or undocumented they may vanish from your life then and there.

Cease Communication Use With Care

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows you to stop all communication from a collector by sending them a formal cease communication request in writing. This sounds like a pretty good credit repair trick, but you must be careful. Depending on the collector, the dollar amount, and the age of the collection, they may regroup and sue you. This can be very uncomfortable and even downright inconvenient. Before considering using this credit repair technique, think carefully!

Doubt Your Eyes

There is another arena in which collectors gather and generally cause discomfort; your credit report. If you have any collection activity at all you are well advised to examine your credit reports periodically. By law, there is supposed to be only a single collection account on your credit report for each debt. Because collectors buy and sell debt regularly you may end up with several collection accounts for the same debt. This must be corrected with credit repair. It may be on your credit report, but that does not mean that you should believe your eyes! Questionable collections should be disputed!

Hire a Credit Repair Company

Credit repair takes some effort. If you are too busy to learn the ropes or manage the process adequately you should consider hiring a professional. Credit repair services are very affordable and will give you the full benefit of their experience and expertise. They will analyze your credit report and identify everything that does not seem compliant. Once done, they will write dispute letters to the credit bureaus, help eliminate all of the invalid collections, and even identify any negotiation opportunities for the legitimate ones. Your credit is important! It's time to take control. You can do it!

Copyright 2009 Ian Webber. All Content. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author: Ian Webber is an expert in consumer law and credit repair. Ian is a graduate of the London School of Economics and The university of Chicago where he earned his LLM. Ian consults with one of the leading online credit repair services and is currently based in Florida.

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