How to Get Credit Card Debt Collectors to Focus Their Energy Elsewhere
1:52 AM
Consumer debt collectors! Credit Card debt collectors! There ought to be a law against them! Fortunately, there is a law, and educated consumers have learned how to use it to fend off these debt collectors by making their job difficult.
Time is money for a credit card debt collector, who is in the business of collecting unsecured consumer debt, most of which happens to be credit card debt. These consumer debt collectors and collection attorneys work on a percentage of what is collected. Most people think there is a debt collector for every debt, when the reality is there is only a debt collector for every easy-to-collect credit card debt.
Over the last 30 years the credit card industry has grown exponentially and the consumer debt collection business has as well.
According to the Federal Reserve and Business Week, the consumer credit industry increased from $133.7 billion of consumer debt obligations in 1970 to $2.5 trillion of consumer debt obligations in November 2007.
According to ACA International, a consumer debt collection trade group, each year debt collectors return more than $40 billion to the U.S. economy.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 159 million credit cardholders in the United States in 2000, 173 million in 2006.
According to the American Banking Associate, 4.75 percent of bank cards were delinquent in the first quarter of 2009.
The point is, there are millions of delinquent credit card accounts to go around to ambitious debt collectors.
The Federal Reserve compels credit card companies to budget for bad debts. The credit card companies usually sell those bad debts after they are written off to junk debt buyers for no more than 10 cents for each dollar of debt. Given that bargain, junk debt buyers do not expect to collect on 100 percent, or even 50 percent, of the accounts they purchase, nor do the collection agencies and collection attorneys who work for them.
Debt collectors can make more money by pursuing delinquent credit card account holders who put up no resistance. Proper resistance to debt collection attempts usually causes debt collectors to look for less resistant targets. Effective resistance to credit card debt collectors relies on The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers the behavior of collection agencies, junk debt buyers, and collection attorneys. The FDCPA treats attorneys as debts collectors, if they are collecting consumer debt. The consumer must be notified in writing by the debt collector of their right to dispute the debt and have it validated, according to the FDCPA. Copies of original documentation that verifies a debt are considered proper validation by the FDCPA. The FDCPA gives the consumer the right to tell the debt collector to stop collection activity until they have validated the debt.
Should the debt collector invest their time with those who properly dispute and request validation or those who put up no resistance?
Time is money for a credit card debt collector, who is in the business of collecting unsecured consumer debt, most of which happens to be credit card debt. These consumer debt collectors and collection attorneys work on a percentage of what is collected. Most people think there is a debt collector for every debt, when the reality is there is only a debt collector for every easy-to-collect credit card debt.
Over the last 30 years the credit card industry has grown exponentially and the consumer debt collection business has as well.
According to the Federal Reserve and Business Week, the consumer credit industry increased from $133.7 billion of consumer debt obligations in 1970 to $2.5 trillion of consumer debt obligations in November 2007.
According to ACA International, a consumer debt collection trade group, each year debt collectors return more than $40 billion to the U.S. economy.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 159 million credit cardholders in the United States in 2000, 173 million in 2006.
According to the American Banking Associate, 4.75 percent of bank cards were delinquent in the first quarter of 2009.
The point is, there are millions of delinquent credit card accounts to go around to ambitious debt collectors.
The Federal Reserve compels credit card companies to budget for bad debts. The credit card companies usually sell those bad debts after they are written off to junk debt buyers for no more than 10 cents for each dollar of debt. Given that bargain, junk debt buyers do not expect to collect on 100 percent, or even 50 percent, of the accounts they purchase, nor do the collection agencies and collection attorneys who work for them.
Debt collectors can make more money by pursuing delinquent credit card account holders who put up no resistance. Proper resistance to debt collection attempts usually causes debt collectors to look for less resistant targets. Effective resistance to credit card debt collectors relies on The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers the behavior of collection agencies, junk debt buyers, and collection attorneys. The FDCPA treats attorneys as debts collectors, if they are collecting consumer debt. The consumer must be notified in writing by the debt collector of their right to dispute the debt and have it validated, according to the FDCPA. Copies of original documentation that verifies a debt are considered proper validation by the FDCPA. The FDCPA gives the consumer the right to tell the debt collector to stop collection activity until they have validated the debt.
Should the debt collector invest their time with those who properly dispute and request validation or those who put up no resistance?
About the Author:
Matt Highlander spent months finding effective ways to frustrate credit card debt collectors and collection attorneys. If you cannot afford to pay, read his Credit Card Debt Survival Guide
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