The importance of saving all correspondence

Any time that you receive any type of correspondence, phone calls, or messages regarding sensitive issues that have the potential of “going legal” (to litigation), you should always save those conversations, correspondence, or any pertinent recorded messages. Common sense mandates that you should do the same thing whenever you are being abused or harassed by a collection agency or attorney and your FDCPA consumer rights are being violated. Remember that the burden of proof falls on you in FDCPA cases that go to court.

In the debt collection industry, abusive and harassing collection methods are still quite common and highly illegal despite the fact that the FDCPA guidelines and laws have been in place for over 30 years now under Title VIII of the Consumer Debt Protection Act. There are certain steps that you can eventually take regarding the proper collection of evidence prior to contacting an FDCPA attorney to help you file your claim and present it in court.

Recording Telephone Conversations Under the FDCPA

Consider the legislation involving the allowance of recording telephone conversations and saving messages regarding your debt collection case. There are currently 12 states that allow you to do this provided you have the consent of the debt collector to do so. The other 38 states have not made this mandatory, but you will have to consent to the debt collector recording what you say during a live conversation. For more detail on the topic of recording telephone conversations with debt collectors, please access the link below:

Am I allowed to record phone calls/messages?

Saving All Written Correspondence

Where written correspondence is concerned, the scenario is a bit different in that you have printed evidence of the request to debt collection demand. However, there are certain aspects which you should focus on and highlight in that correspondence which is strictly forbidden by the FDCPA. These include:

• misrepresenting the amount of the debt that you actually owe
• extra fees which have been added by the debt collector
• the use of abusive, obscene, or profane language
• threatening violent measures to collect the debt
• threatening collection actions which they cannot legally take or most likely will not take
• informing 3rd parties in written form about your debt and attempting to collect more of your personal information from that 3rd party
• sending collection letters to your employer when that is not allowed or discouraged
• attempting to collect the debt with written correspondence prior to verifying that debt
• continuing to dun you after you have sent them a “cease and desist” letter

On a closing note, remember that enlisting the services of an experienced FDCPA attorney and having collected sufficient evidence to plead you case in court could be the difference between being awarded damages or continuing to be harassed. Please contact us for further assistance or to ask us any questions you may have regarding this matter.