When dealing with debt collectors, it is important to know your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
This preserves your rights to avoid debt collector harassment, as well as the lesser-known issue of debt collector manipulation through the use of deception.
Dangerous debt collection practices
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau discusses debt collection tactics that are not kosher. This includes harassment and more overt issues that people can recognize more easily. Examples of harassment include constantly calling you at all hours and refusing to leave identifying messages, staking out your house, or threatening you directly with the possibility of being booted out of your home.
However, deceptive tactics often take a different course and can be harder to identify. For example, a common deception is for debt collectors to pretend that they are working with an attorney and will try to get you evicted from your home. In reality, they often assign one of their co-workers to play the part of an attorney without actually getting one involved.
They may do the same with the police, threatening to have police evict you or arrest you when they do not have an arrest warrant or any real power to follow up on these threats.
Protections under FDCPA
Under the FDCPA, debt collectors cannot use misleading or false information to try to scare you into paying back your debts. Thus, if you suffer through any of these issues, you can look into your options and consider getting compensation for any damage you may have accrued at this time.