Fair Debt Collection Practices & Ending Unwanted Collector Contact

If you are being harassed by collectors you will be happy to know that there is protection provided for you under the federal Fair Debt Collection Act, and many states provide additional protections for their residents (not discussed here). If your debt is for household, family or personal spending this act protects you from harassment by third party collectors.

Collectors are allowed to contact you between the hours of 8am and 9pm (your time). Also, if you inform them that they are calling at a time that is not convenient for you they must stop calling at that time. If a collector contacts you at work you may inform them that you are not allowed to take calls at work. They must stop contacting you. If they call you on your cell phone, you may inform them that they are calling on a cell phone, it is costing you money to receive these calls and they must stop calling that number.

When trying to locate you, your collectors can contact friends, family members or neighbors to inquire about your location. They cannot, unless expressly asked, disclose that they are from a collection agency, additionally, they can't call the same person twice without that individuals permission or reasonable probability that the individual has more necessary information. Without your permission the collector cannot try to collect through anybody but you, your spouse or your co-debtors.

When a collector calls, they cannot misrepresent themselves as being affiliated with a different agency or the government. They must inform you if the call is being recorded or monitored (it almost always is). They cannot exaggerate the debt or its legal status. They cannot threaten legal action they have no intention of taking or mislead you about the legal nature of any forms. They cannot threaten to sell the debt to induce payment. They cannot threaten violence or other criminal action against you (this includes harm to your reputation or property), nor can they use abusive language or call repetitiously.

In most cases it is necessary to request that a collector cease communication with you in writing (we will soon have a link to a sample letter). Alternatively, you can hire an attorney. After contact has been made with the collector you will likely continue to receive a statement of account and or updates as to the legal status of your account. These are for information only and are permitted under the law; they cannot send further collection letters. The debt will most likely be sold to a new collector at some point who will send new collection letters, making it necessary to repeat the procedure.

In our experience at HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm, letters sent by individuals are often ignored. Letters from an attorney are usually taken more seriously and calls stop after they receive our letter.

HELPS provides a service: sending out cease and desist letters and dealing with the probing calls from collectors. As long as we are kept up to date with information about any new collectors who contact you, we will continue to send letters to your creditors for you. This is a multiple year process that quickly becomes tiresome for most people. For those who find it confusing, exhausting, or overwhelming; we are happy to help restore peace to their lives, stopping collector harassment and seniors well informed about their rights are in regards to their creditors.

Testimonials Part 3!

Transcript: "I believe in the HELPS program, it has made a wonderful difference in my life and if there are any senior citizens that are having a problem, by all means look into HELPS. It's wonderful and it will help you tremendously."



Transcript: "Okay, my husband had a massive stroke. He was in perfect health, and he died and all our debtors were calling day after day after day, you know? Thirteen, fourteen fifteen calls a day. And I was having what I thought were seizures but they were just real bad panic attacks because I was grieving and trying to deal with the creditors at the same time. I was at my wits end. I couldn't grieve, you know, they didn't give me time to grieve, and they didn't seem to understand what I was going through and of course my income, I only have a third of the income I had when my husband was alive so I couldn't pay my bills. So I called the attorneys at HELPS and had a consultation with them and my life immediately changed for the better. The biggest benefit is not having to deal with people that call and are cross and, you know, threatening. They take care of that for me, I don't have to worry about that anymore. That gives me so much peace of mind because there was really nothing I could do until I talked to them. Oh! I'm so thankful for them, I thank God for them, they're my guardian angels."

Thanks to Sondra R. and Sharon T. for sharing their stories with us!

How HELPS Worked for Ron M.

Transcript: "Yeah once you have this, man, it's like somebody come and lift a burden off you. I mean lets face it, you know? Then the bill collectors would keep after you after this started, but boy after HELPS sent out the letter and said "hey if you have anything coming up, don't talk to him you talk to us, we're his attorney." Boy I tell you after that got down to, aw maybe one or two. What would happen is they would change collection agencies. They would have ABC collection one week and ABC I guess would turn in back in to them and say "hey, we can't do anything." They turn it over to XYZ collection agency so they'd call you the next week and so then again you go to HELPS and they contact them and these people just go away. Because they know that they can't harass you because HELPS will sue them if they keep doing that you know? Because you're at a disadvantage when you owe them money and stuff because you don't know what to do, you're not an attorney, you don't know what your rights are. You just know I owe them money and I can't pay it. But these guys, the attorneys at HELPS boy they really take the burden off you. Life really becomes a lot different after, a lot better."

A big thank you to Ron M. for taking the time to talk to us!

A note about HELPS:
We do not sue collection agencies, if you continue to have trouble with an agency we will help refer you to an attorney who can help. For information on what HELPS can legally do please look at the FAQ on our website.

Testimonial on HELPS from Ron B.

"They've done a wonderful job for me and I have no complaints" -Ron B.

Transcript: Other seniors should know what helps can do for them because it's a fairly new program and they're not aware of it. I certainly wasn't and that's one of the reasons that everybody should know about this! The constant harassment and some of the nasty people that are on the other line of that phone are eliminated completely. You have no more stress. And I can't press that enough--no more stress from creditors--it's all taken care of.

And a big thank you from the HELPS team to our client Ron for doing this interview with us!

HELPS is Here

Many seniors today are in debt. We, at HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm, have learned from years of experience that many people don't know about their financial rights.  This can put them at a significant disadvantage when dealing with collectors. We have found that people don't know what resources exist to help them; the goal of this blog is to share resources and information that can help make life easier and a little bit more bearable for seniors and disabled people who may be experiencing harassment from creditors. We would like to help peace to return to their lives!

What Is HELPS (and what does it mean?)

HELPS is an acronym that stands for Help Eliminate Legal Problems for Seniors and disabled. We were founded by attorney Eric Olsen, president of OlsenDaines; the largest bankruptcy firm in the Pacific Northwest. HELPS was created to assist a significant number of OlsenDaines clients who didn't need to file bankruptcy.

Why didn't they need to file bankruptcy?                       

Most seniors receive income which is exempt from collection by bill collectors. The most common example of protected income is Social Security. Other retirement income is usually protected as well. Seniors may also wish to have a part time job, if the income is small enough (the amount depends on your state), it is not garnishable by creditors either.

Why would seniors be tempted to file bankruptcy?

Simple answer: collectors. Just because a senior’s income was not collectable (new information to many) didn't mean that the bill collectors would stop contacting them, often calling multiple times each day causing large amounts of stress. Often bill collectors will tell people that they will garnish their pension or Social Security, even when they know it is not true.

HELPS was created to stop the harassment of seniors by collectors.

Once a collector receives a letter from an attorney representing the senior the collectors are no longer allowed to contact them. All contact must be made through the attorney. HELPS represents seniors from all across the country, allowing our clients peace of mind. We always encourage questions, and do not feel that we have done our job unless our client can sleep at night. We are always happy to have a trusted friend or family member you may want to invite sit in on any conversation and can arrange for conference calls as needed.

We are dedicated to helping seniors and disabled persons who are unable to pay old debt that is weighing them down, often making it difficult to pay for housing, food and medicine. As scary as it can be to consider, these situations can happen to anybody!  We are hoping to share a variety of resources and answer some frequently asked questions here. Almost everyone knows someone who could use this information, and everybody should be informed on their legal rights. Please feel free to share with your friends and family members who may be in need of some help. Our motto is “Sharing the Burden.”