Harassment by Creditors and Debt Collectors at Home and at Work. This might sound a little obvious, but more often than might believe, there are people that end up filing bankruptcy simply because of the stress and depression that is associated with the intimidating collection tactics that are being used by creditors and debt collectors. The stress leads to physical and emotional problems that eventually become unbearable. If fact, the actual amount of the debt might be manageable if the person doing the collecting would agree to work out an amicable payment arrangement with their customer.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the person making the calls has no authority to arrange any kind of agreement over the phone. In fact, the caller will pretty much agree to anything, verbally, over the phone, to get you to send them some money. Somehow, the agreement fails to get recorded into their computer, and the company will later deny any such agreement existed. At time, the debtor might have a cause of action against the debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The only problem is, at times, when a person comes in to see me, they are so emotionally torn up, the last thing they want to do is be involved in a law suit; they just want to be left alone.
In fact, I know of a case where the company agreed to a payment arrangement and confirmed it in writing. The money was sent to the creditor as agreed, only to be returned. The debt was transferred to a third party, and they sued. So much for agreements.
It's harassment, such as this, that eventually leads to one having a nervous breakdown, or filing bankruptcy. I take the position that it is the creditors and debt collectors that push people into filing bankruptcy, as they most probably would not have otherwise filed.
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