Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum. I am on a mission dedicated to helping people who are being harassed by scavenger debt collectors. What is a scavenger debt collector? It is a third party debt collection agency that buys junk/zombie debts for pennies on the dollar and then tries to collect these debts by the consumer. http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/31/debt-creditors-default-pf-education-in_af_1031investopedia_inl.html Most of these collection agencies bank on the fact that you probably do not know your rights when it comes to these types of collections. It will definitely benefit you to know your rights. Because these debt collectors were violating the laws so frequently, the government created The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Here is the link to the Federal Trade Commission's website that details your rights as a consumer: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.shtm. Arm yourself. Know your rights. Then when these people call you will have the knowledge you need to fight them.
My Story:
Without going into too much detail, my first marriage was not a good marriage. My then husband was very controlling. He had drinking problems and drug problems that led to unfavorable circumstances when it came to paying bills. It was not fun. I had a 300.00 credit card from Capitol One that I used one-time but couldn't even make the monthly payment so the card was closed and the debt not paid. It took about ten years or more before the creditors started calling to collect on the debt. Being that old, the debt had become a zombie debt which means that it was written off by the company as a loss. Being naive, I paid the debt off to this debt collector and after this company, paid it yet, again. The same card, the same debt. So this 300.00 credit card had turned into a 4600.00 card when all was said and done. After paying this debt twice, I guess you could say I decided it was time I educated myself. I went back to college and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and then obtained a Master of Business Administration. When deciding on whether or not I wanted to get my PhD, my attention turned to my dissertation and I decided I was going to write it on zombie debts and scavenger debt collectors. I still had these agencies calling me trying to collect the same Capitol One debt but by this time, I was better informed and knew they were violating the FDCPA act in their attempts to collect this debt. I did my research and found a consumer law attorney that was willing to go after the company that was harassing me and stop them in their tracks. Not only that, they were willing to do this at no cost to me. Too good to be true? I thought so at first, but this company puts their terms in writing for you and during the process, I was never charged a dime. At the end of the lawsuit, I received a check for 500.00 (the collection agency had to pay all my legal fees) and more importantly, they were not allowed to contact me anymore. You CAN fight the system and win!
I said I was on a mission and I wasn't kidding. There is a reason many of these companies have made the Fortune 500 and that reason is that most people do not know their rights and if they do, they don't realize that there is help available to them free of charge. edited
Please take care and fight back.
Regards,
Kathi
