Fending off Credit Card Debt Collectors Begins with a Guiltless Attitude

April 2nd, 2010 | 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 and that they can take positive action to eliminate credit card debt they cannot afford to pay.

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. In order to collect, the other side must properly document that you owe the money.

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. The debt collector can assume that the debt is valid if the consumer does not dispute the debt’s validity.

2] The consumer must notify the debt collector in writing within thirty days that the debt is disputed.

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.

According to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide, 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 easier target.

TheCredit Card Debt Survival Guide is for consumers seeking to educate themselves about how to eliminate credit card debt. www.credit-card-debt-survival.com