If you are suffering from the stress of creditors calling you at work or at home, sending letters threatening lawsuits, foreclosures, repossession, or using other hostile and harassing collection techniques, bankruptcy can be the magic bullet to stop bill collectors and aggressive collection agencies for good. Filing Bankruptcy will stop a bill collector, collection agency, or most any other creditor from collection actions by way of the automatic stay. The automatic stay is a part of the Bankruptcy Code which immediately stops most collection actions the moment you file bankruptcy. While Bankruptcy isn’t the answer to every debt problem, it does put you in control of the situation whether it be by getting rid of your debt, reducing your debt, or reorganizing your debt. If you file for bankruptcy, you put an immediate end to bill collectors and collection agencies. Bankruptcy puts you in control of your finances and back on the path towards a fresh financial start.
When you owe money and bill collectors are calling you, it can be a very stressful situation. A bill collector or collection agency representative can oftentimes be confrontational, argumentative, and down right rude. Bill collectors will say almost anything to get money out of you. They will use persistence, fear, guilt, shame, and threats to convince you to pay them or post date them a check. A bill collector will demand money despite any problems which obviously have prevented you from paying. Bill collectors don’t care about you or your family. They prefer that you pay them instead of your basic living expenses. It’s their job.
Trying to deal with a bill collector or collection agency can be frustrating and difficult, especially when you don’t have the money to pay them. If you do have something to pay, it’s likely they’ll demand more. If you ask reasonable questions as allowed by law such as; Who’s calling? What’s your address? or, What’s your telephone number? Their tone can escalate to become demeaning and abusive. This can be especially true if they are a third party collector and not the original creditor.
When you don’t return bill collector or collection agency phone calls, it can get worse. They will most likely call you at work, or may even call a friend, a relative, or a neighbor. Bill collectors and collection agencies can usually get away with calling others to “locate” you because when you signed the credit application, you most likely gave the names of friends, neighbors, or the closest relative not living with you, along with permission to contact them if you can’t be reached. Although a bill collector can contact your friends, relatives, and neighbors entirely for the purpose of locating you, they are not allowed to reveal the nature of the debt. Sometimes a bill collector may tell a friend or neighbor they need some additional information to process some paperwork and if they knew your whereabouts that would help them. Some collectors try to appear as your friends or make it sound like your relative or neighbor would be doing you a great service to either give the collector a way to contact you or have them give you the collector’s number to contact them for an important personal matter. This collection tactic may seem deceptive, misleading, uncouth, tacky, embarrassing, and just plain wrong, but it’s not against the law.
Bill collectors and collection agencies will do all kinds of things to get you to pay, but if you are overwhelmed with debt and just can’t get things back on track, you should consider filing bankruptcy. If you take the bankruptcy means test and determine that you are eligible to file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, you may be able to get rid of you unsecured debts such as credit cards, medical bills, and payday loans. If it turns out that the bankruptcy means test provides that you must file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, you may be able to significantly reduce your credit card debt, and other unsecured debts, and possibly pay them pennies on the dollar. Whatever type of bankruptcy you file, bill collectors and collection agencies won’t be calling you anymore. Filing bankruptcy will stop them from harassing you, your family, and your friend with annoying and embarrassing phone calls.
If you are afraid to answer your phone because aggressive bill collectors and collection agencies are hounding you, call a bankruptcy lawyer to see what can be done to help you. An experienced bankruptcy attorney may be able to help you put an end to bill collectors and collection agencies for good. Don’t be pressured to pay money you don’t have just because a bill collector says that you should.
Contact a Bankruptcy Attorney and get a fresh start today.
Copyright: Copyright © 2008 RJ Atkinson LLP – Attorneys At Law
About the Author:
Rogena Jan Atkinson of The Law Offices of RJ Atkinson,LLP, (rjabankruptcy.com) is a bankruptcy lawyer & foreclosure attorney who has stopped thousands of foreclosures with bankruptcy. Visit
www.rjabankruptcy.com to learn more about foreclosure and bankruptcy.