Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 11

Start Filing Complaints
Check to see if debt collectors are required to be licensed in your state. If so, find out how to complain to the state agency that regulates them.
I live in Arizona, and debt collectors are required to be licensed. If there are laws requiring a debt collector to be licensed and you can’t [...]

Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 10

By now, you know enough about my basic strategy for dealing with debt collectors and how to handle their annoying calls.
So what do you do if the debt collector refuses to validate the debt and continues to call despite being asked to stop?
What about the really abusive debt collectors who make threats that violate the [...]

Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 10

Always Communicate with Debt Collectors by Certified Mail!
ALWAYS send letters to collection agencies by certified mail, return receipt requested. If you don’t send a letter by certified mail, the debt collection agency will ALWAYS tell you they never received your letter. It’s amazing to me how things are instantly found when you have proof that [...]

Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 9

Send the debt collection agency a certified letter asking for verification of the debt.
Oftentimes, you don’t get the benefit of a letter or anything written from the debt collection agency before the calls begin. The calls might just start, and many times a debt collector will not identify themselves on the phone or give you [...]

Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 8

Leverage the internet in your war against debt collectors.
The Internet is a fabulous tool to find out information about debt collectors. Once you find out the collection agency’s name in your phone number search, you can run a Google search by the company’s name.
In more than one instance, I’ve found dirt on a collection agency [...]

Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 7

Don’t deal with debt collectors on the phone after the initial call.
One of the best tricks I’ve found for figuring out who’s calling me, especially if I don’t recognize the number, is to Google the phone number.
This works for all phone numbers except for private numbers.
If a call is from a collection agency, there are [...]

Scumbag Debt Collectors, Part 6

Fighting back is half the battle.
Like the lady from the MVD, most people don’t bother fighting back against the collection agencies.
They think that just because someone called and said they owed a debt that they legitimately owe the money.
Or, they know they owe the debt, and they believe they’re a bad person for not paying [...]