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are collectors coming after you unfairly our credit expert is here now
with some advice on
how to really protect yourself Bo Thomas is a certified credit expert who
has helped
consumers all across the country thank you for coming and thank you thank you
this all stems us inviting you here to talk specifically stems from this law
suit that just came down against
a large creditor yeah the FTC just ordered one the largest ever by a third
party debt collectors 3.2 million dollars
for doing something what we find a lotta collectors do every day
to consumers but they were just called on it yeah there are some serious
very specific lines for creditors to call you or get in touch with you and how
they can do it and when they can do it lets go through those and talk about
those
because there are certain even times of day they can do it right
absolutely and and a lot don't follow the rules but
so the most common ones that they violate and what this 3.2 million dollar
settlement was
calling before 8 o'clock in the morning or after nine o'clock at night
hiding their identity one of the really common ones there is that they block the
caller ID
so you don't know who is calling and you pick up right right
they can't use an automatic dialer to call your cell phone
and that's another real common thing as well like a pre recorded message kind of thing
that's illegal yeah if they leave it no matter the time of day no
matter the time of day but that's only on your cell phones
a little tricky there on your home phone that's okay
all right very good and this first one we forgot to mention is they cannot call
several times yeah there's a limit and that's harassed they really there's
there's case law out there that states that more than three times in a day
can be construed as harassment so threes their max
per 24 hour period okay and then you can ask them to
cease and desist you can make a formal request yeah so if you if you tell me
that you refuse to pay the debt
and the stop calling they have to stop calling if they continue to call after
that
that's when you need to take action okay so now I see in a court situation or
something if you try and
and turn to legal help for this it turns into a he said she said
so how in the world do you
you know protect yourself yeah lets say you take steps you know document
all calls
log all the calls as they call I even if it's a log just jot down
who you spoke with what time of day even just your own hand written absolutely that's
all you need you don't have to have a smoking gun or anything like that yeah
just document down you can go to our web-site we have a lot of the free
information there's a log and steps up what to do
okay if you're getting these calls course a few get a recorded message
that's maybe even better proof right absolutely that's that's like surveillance footage
that's that's documentation of them doing okay so if you get that
save
that recorded message and tapes you say all written correspondents too
if you get anything in the mail the most those actually
are covered by the business insurance you don't see very many violations there
but any correspondence you get absolutely there's rules that they Follow
before the first time that they communicate with you an attempt to
collect a debt they have to send you a dunning letter
it's a letter this advising you of your rights each time they communicate with
you that's another key factor they have to advise you of your rights and
it's commonly known as your mini Miranda and that's the phrase that
it's an attempt to collect a debt any information will be used for that purpose
if they don't do that this subject up to a thousand dollar
fine which goes to the consumer not anybody else a consumer can get up to a
thousand dollars just but
small tedious mistake okay so let's say you've made these logs you you've
got all your
documentation ready then what that's when we turn to someone for help
in representing us right
yeah that's and that's what we with our credit repair clients we coach
them
and educate them on what they can do to document really build a case then we get them our
attorney
the firm addelman law firm specializes in Ft CPA claims which is
the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act okay
and now he'll get you taken care of so how do we find you if needed absolutely reach us on
the web it's certified credit experts dot com
if they call it 816 994 4600
always a pleasure chatting with you thanks for coming in today
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