How to Handle Abusive Collection Agencies

You come home from work and take off your shoes, wincing because your toes have been pinched. You change into jeans and a ratty old t-shirt and settle down on the couch to watch your favorite reality show. Then - of course - the phone rings in its cradle, and you get up to check the Caller ID. Yikes! You recognize the number; it's a collection agency, and you have no idea what you're going to tell them. The last time you answered the phone, they are harrassing and abusive.

If you've fallen into debt or are having a dispute with a company, then you're likely to hear from multiple collection agencies. They're obnoxious annoying, and they want their money; you just want them to stop calling your house. If you had the money or the desire to pay them, you would have dropped a check in the mail, right? And you don't appreciate the way they talk to you on the phone.

Collection agencies are known to call several times each day, sometimes within the time frame that's allowed by the law, and sometimes not. It doesn't matter whether you answer the phone or let the machine get it; they will continue to call, and sometimes they use illegal and abusive tactics to attempt to collect the money they're owed. So how do you handle abusive collection agencies?

According to recent statistics, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) receives more complaints annually about abusive collection agencies that from any other type of business. Although the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is in place to  regulate debt collection activities and behavior, many collection agencies refuse to abide by those laws. They assume that consumers are unaware of the laws protecting them, and continue to behave in abusive and illegal manners.

It also has to do with the employees of abusive collection agencies; many are poorly trained and are not advised by the laws that protect consumers. They know that they will only receive their commission if the debt is collected, so they are willing to resort to any means possible to collect the money you owe.