The theme of the office the past couple of working days has been debt collectors.  We've received quite a few phone calls from people who are being harassed so I figured I would enlighten everyone on a few things you can do to protect yourself and a few things that debt collectors are NOT allowed to do.

First of all, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is your main guide for referencing what a debt collector can and cannot do.  As far as contacting you goes, the debt collector can contact you in person, by mail, telephone, telegram or fax.  They cannot contact you before 8am or after 9pm unless you agree and cannot call you at work if you have told them not to.  If you have an attorney, the debt collector is supposed to contact them, but if you don't, they can contact members of your family to find out where you live, your phone number and where you work.

If you wish for the debt collector to stop contacting you, the best way is to write them a letter telling them to stop.  Once they receieve the letter, they cannot contact you except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you of further action.  Writing a letter will not make your debt go away so be careful to get that taken care of to avoid being sued.