Creditor harrassment

[GTRGRL]

I am a 31 year old female and live in Mississippi. I have credit problems and due to this, have had several checks returned. Even though I contact the creditors telling them as best as I can when I can make a payment, they call my workplace every single day. I have a professional job and this is really embarrassing to say the least! They are sometimes rude to my coworkers. One even told me he was going to come to my job to see me and talk about the bill! He said he had every legal right to do so. I have told some of them about the Federal Fair Debt Collection Act and that I cannot take calls from creditors at work but they have continued to call anyway. Who can I report them to? It has gotten so bad that going to work is unbearable.
Thanks!

Terri
[email protected]

 

[onekw3412]

Good Question

I am no lawyer but that does not seem right. They have called me at work too but when they ask for the person I say they are not in at this time, may I take your name and a message. The guy wont usually tell me anything other than I will try later. I am about to start recording my calls, I hope that is legal.

 

[bigun]

One thing I would suggest is quit bouncing checks. That is against the law and just makes a bad situation worse.

 

[JETX]

Terri, your post is really two problems, not one.

1) Creditors calling: Most people think that they can stop the creditor from contacting you, but that is not true. A CREDITOR can contact you pretty much without any restrictions. However, a DEBT COLLECTOR is different. They are prohibited from certain actions by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). One of their barred actions is to contact you at work after their becoming aware not to. You can read the entire FDCPA at http://www.ftc.gov/.
NOTE: The FDCPA does NOT apply to the actual creditor, since it is assumed that they anticipate doing future business with you and wouldn't jeopardize that relationship by their actions.

2) Checks returned: This is UNRELATED to credit problems, unless you are writing these checks to the creditors. If so, they can still pursue the collection methods available to them PLUS they can pursue civil and criminal charges for your 'check activity'. Stop writing bad checks!! They are NOT excused by your credit problems.

In Mississippi, penalties for bad checks:
Civil: " Amount due plus additional damages of 100% on checks up to $25,000, 50% (not to exceed $50 or fall below $25) on checks on $25 to $200, and 25% on checks over $200."
Criminal: "Checks under $100 - a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500 or imprisonment in the county jail for not less than five days nor more than six months or both. Upon conviction of second offense for check less than $100 a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000 or imprisonment of not less than 30 days nor more than one year. For the third offense a felony regardless of amount involved, imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a term of not less than one year nor more than five years. For a check of more than $100, deemed a felony, punishment of fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for a term of not more than three years or both."

 

[GTRGRL]

I just wanted to clarify something. I did NOT purposely bounce any checks. I didn't tell the entire story because I wanted to be brief. I had ordered some new checks which were stolen out of my mailbox. All I knew was that I hadn't received the checks yet and didn't realize they had arrived but had been stolen. So when I wrote checks of my own, they were bouncing and when I called to find out why, I realized my checks had been stolen and someone was writing them all over town. The checks they wrote made it to the bank before mine did so mine bounced. The bank cleared me of any fees but I still owe the places I wrote the checks to. It took the bank several days to replace my money and by that time, I was late with bills that I was already was having credit problems with. The places the bad checks went to put returned check fees on them and have not taken the fees off, regardless of my reasons. So being pressured to pay them first has put my other bills behind. So I wasn't PURPOSELY writing bad checks so the advice of "stop writing bad checks" isn't an issue for me. Just wanted to clarify that. Thanks.