Beat Credit Card Debt By Losing The Guilt Associated With It

October 27th, 2009 | Posted in Credit Card Debt

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.

Some consumers in this situation realize they do not have to suffer this financial death by guilt.

A proven legal strategy for dealing with overdue unsecured credit card debt that cannot be paid is to deny it and dispute it with a debt collector (not the original creditor), according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. It is important to understand this is a legal strategy and not a reflection on the character of the person using this strategy. This is analogous to pleading the Fifth Amendment and making the other side prove their case.

A credit card debt collector is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to send a statement to the consumer with the debt saying that:

1) Send a consumer a statement saying that the debt will be assumed to be valid unless that debt is disputed.

2) Says that the consumer must dispute the debt, in writing, within thirty days of dispute.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also allows consumers to write to the credit card debt collector stating that they refuse to pay the debt, or that they would like the debt collector to stop all communication regarding the debt.

Then what happens, when the consumer disputes and denies a credit card debt and instructs collection communications to cease when a collection attempt is made by a credit card debt collector? Their job has been made harder. They must validate the debt with copies of original documents. That means going back to the credit card company for documents, then forwarding them to the consumer.

With an unsecured, unsigned credit card debt, a debt collector has to get the consumer to admit to owing the debt. Effectively they need an admission of “guilt”. The initial exchanges between consumer and the credit card debt collector set the tone of all communications between them. If a consumer denies and disputes the alleged debt, and also forbids further communications, often the collector will look for an easier target.

If you are seeking credit card debt relief, whether you can afford to pay or not, read Matt Highlander’s Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.