Have you ever gotten a frightening phone call from a debt collector that left you feeling so intimidated, you wanted to pay up immediately, whether you owe the money or not?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a collection of states, including Connecticut, announced a big crackdown Wednesday on abusive collection tactics.
The FTC wants to put stop to calls like this.
“I have been retained to serve you with documents to appear in court.” That was part of a fake debt collection call NBC Connecticut obtained back in February.
The FTC says sketchy debt collectors use illegal tactics such as harassing phone calls that threaten legal action, arrest, and wage garnishment to strong-arm people into paying money. Sometimes the debts are real, but sometimes they’re made up.
Brandi Hughes was almost a victim of a company that tried to collect $600 on a debt she didn’t owe.
“It was almost like a scare tactic that they use to scare you into giving them the money,” said Hughes. “I definitely felt the initial panic.”
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The FTC and other agencies are taking aggressive steps to prevent this.
“Being in debt is stressful enough for many Americans without also being subjected to intimidation and false threats,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said. “Debtors have certain rights and rogue collectors that step outside the law will face the consequences of illegal behavior.”
According to the FTC, this year alone they filed 11 cases against more than 50 defendants secured more than $88 million dollars in judgments and banned 24 defendants from working in debt collection.
You should always research a debt before you fork over your hard earned cash to make sure it is legitimate. You can file a complaint with the Connecticut Department of Banking if you don’t think you really owe the money. Or, if you do owe, but you think the collection practices are abusive.
