Debt Collection Harrasment

What is Debt Collection Harrassment?

It is an experience which is all too common, you owe someone a small amount of money which you intend to pay off soon, but you haven’t spoken to the creditor in quite a while. Suddenly you get a threatening phone call from a debt collection agency where they threaten to put you in jail, hunt you or your family down or destroy your life. Then you also start getting menacing letters with threats of legal action, and overstating the amounts of the debts you owe, claiming the costs of the debt collection and it seems like the problem is now completely out of control. Harrasment in the context of debt collection is quite broad

What are the real rights of a creditor?

A creditor can certainly refuse to continue doing business with you if you are not paying their bills. Withdrawal of service on these grounds is entirely justified. Secondly, a creditor or their agent can report you to a credit bureau if there is a genuine default on a debt. This will affect your credit rating and make it much harder for you to obtain credit in the future as future creditors will look at this on your record in making a decision about whether or not to lend you money.

Also a creditor can usually take legal action to recover a debt, but in almost all cases they have no basis for a threat of putting you in jail. The only possible way that this can happen is if you have committed a type of fraud which broadly means obtaining a benefit or causing a detriment to someone else though deception. Fraud also needs to be proven against the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard of proof which is much harder to prove than the balance of probabilities found in a civil action. However, creditors can file what is called a statement of claim in order to obtain a judgment for the debts owing to them. This is the normal first step of legal action. They can then obtain enforcement orders which may involve reposession, or if you have become insolvent, bankruptcy proceedings. However, none of these actions ever involve any term of imprisonment.

What a creditor cannot do

There are many things that creditors try in order to get their way. Some will threate violence, tell your employer, friends or family, ring you constantly at unreasonable hours or visit you at your place of work unless you have authorised them to.

What can I do if I am being harrassed by a debt collector?

There is legislation which protects consumers in the US it is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, In Australia every state and territory has similar legislation and this behaviour can be investigated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Office of Fair Trading in each State and the Police if there if there is a physical or verbal assault involved. Also, when a debt collector get their licence they need to apply to a local court and the police can object to this if there has been a complaint lodged on the basis that they are not of good fame or character at the local court application and the application then gets listed for a hearing in the local court so it becomes very difficult for the collector to renew their license.

We realise that being harrassed in this manner can be very intimidating and recommend that you seek professional legal advice if you think that this is occuring to you. There are lawyers avaialble online now to answer your questions about any of these matters, just click on the links below.

Debt Collection Letter Resources