Subscribe Feed (RSS)Many consumers, who cannot afford to pay high monthly minimum credit card debt payments and cannot afford to settle those debts, condemn themselves with their feelings of guilt to being tormented by credit card debt collectors.
A few on the other hand, however, realize if they get control of their guilty feelings about their credit card debt, they can begin to put their financial problems behind them.
The first step to overcoming that guilt, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide, is disputing and denying the debt any credit card debt collector, other then the original creditor, calls about. Not admitting to an unsecured credit card debt and denying it is a legal strategy which can be compared to invoking the Fifth Amendment. It is not an indication of character. All this means is that the other side will have to prove that they have a case against you.
Credit card debt collectors must, according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:
1. The debt collector can assume that the debt is valid if the consumer does not dispute the debt’s validity.
2. In order to dispute the debt, the consumer must dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, by sending a letter to the debt collector.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also allows the consumer to notify the credit card debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt and that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer with respect to the debt.
If a consumer follows this advice and refuses to admit to the credit card debt, by disputing it and denying it, and then writes to the credit card debt collector asking them to cease communications regarding the debt, that may cause the debt collector to decide to collect from other easier-to-deal-with consumers. For them to proceed with the task of recovering this debt, they will need to prove the debt exists by getting copies of original documents from the credit card company and sending them on to the consumer.
For an unsecured, unsigned credit card debt, the first thing a credit card debt collector must do is to get the consumer to admit to the debt; to take ownership of it, to admit “guilt.” That one exchange between the consumer and the credit card debt collector sets the tenor for the rest of the debt collection communications between the two. But, if the consumer denies and disputes the alleged debt and forbids further communications, the collector will likely move on to an easy target.
Matt Highlander wrote the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. If you are searching for credit card debt relief, read about proven strategies for settling debts and handling debt collectors as well as collection attorneys.
Tags: business, credit, credit card, credit card company, credit card debt, credit card debt collection, debt, debt collection, finance, personal finance
Very interesting technicality you pointed out.