Things Collections Cannot Do - The Top 12 collection agency legal violations
Here are 12 things a debt collector cannot do:
•Contact you at inconvenient times or places, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree;
•Contact you at work if he/she knows that your employer disapproves of such contacts;
•Use obscene language;
•Repeatedly use the telephone to annoy you;
•Make false or misleading statements or writings, such as falsely implying that he is an attorney or government representative, that you have committed a crime, or that he represents a credit bureau;
•State that you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt;
•Send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not;
•Use a false name;
•Deposit a post-dated check prematurely;
•Deceptively make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams;
•Contact you by postcard;
•Apply a payment you have made on one debt to another debt without your approval.
Did it happen to you? Make it stop. Here is how:
Open the "regulators" menu and go to FDIC law. (it opens in a new window) where you can familiarize yourself. Also go to our Your Money" page, which will also open in a new window.
Using your new knowledge simply prepare a bill or invoice for the offending company using your own computer. Mail it using delivery confirmation from the post office.
Next, read our detailed series on debt collectors including Sherman Financial. If you know their game plan you understand them. Do not agree to anyting unless you know for certain that you won't accidently restart a timeline on something where the statute of limitations already ran out.
Finally, go to SettlementScams.com to see how settlements work and how settlement scams are perpetrated.
Thinking of making a debt settlement offer? See common 
We monitor customer trends for possible violations of Regulation Z and other possible illegal actions.