Dealing with debt collectors requires that you understand their weapons. The real weapons of debt collection aren’t lawyers and lawsuits: they are fear, shame, and annoyance. They want to get inside your head and use your emotions against you.
Manipulating your emotions is quicker and cheaper than going to court to get a judgment.
Once you understand how they wield those weapons, you render them impotent.
Fear is the first weapon of a debt collector
Nothing is as powerful as fear. It can be fear of lawsuits, garnishment, liens. Or fear of family or public exposure; or damage to your credit. Scammers use fear of the police or arrest.
Collectors couple fear with urgency. You can avoid the threats they conjure with only with immediate payment.
They count on you not knowing
- How long a lawsuit takes
- How credit scores heal
- That we don’t put people in prison for debt
Once you know that the law is slow, damage to credit isn’t permanent, and jail isn’t on the table, fear loses its impact.
Shame works
Debt collectors want you to be ashamed of the financial situation you’re in. Those in debt often blame themselves for being vulnerable.
In truth, most people want desperately to pay their bills. And quite often, they got in this pickle for reasons beyond their control
- Illness
- Job loss
- Divorce
- Supporting extended family
Making a “good faith payment” sounds easy and it’s consistent with the kind of person we want to be.
It’s an ambush: don’t let owing money corrode your sense of self-worth and do something damaging or pointless.
Annoyance is powerful
Constant collection calls, however polite and non-threatening, work surprisingly well to get you to cut a check to the caller.
It’s easy to see a small payment as a reasonable price for peace at home. But that peace is short-lived. Like a blackmailer, the collector will be back for more.
Emotional weapons need a listener
Each of these weapons only work if the collector can get your attention via the phone, the post, or email. But you aren’t required to make yourself available to them.
Screen your calls. Block email. Or use the law to cut off communication.
Federal law gives you the right to prohibit third party debt collectors from contacting you. State law may give you similar rights against the original creditor.
Send out a “do not contact: letter and render the collector’s weapons useless.
Hold on to priorities for payment
Chances are that there’s a reason you’re behind on bills. Economic times are rough. It’s essential to have well thought-out priorities for paying your expenses.
Debt collectors want to disrupt those priorities and get you to divert money from essentials to their far less important debt.
Look for a global solution
Dealing with a debt collector is well and good. But chances are, you’re not dealing with one persistent creditor, but many. To win the battle with overwhelming debt, you need to explore a global solution.
Avoid debt management or debt settlement. These are imperfect tools, that profit the company, take lots of time, have a poor success rate, and don’t offer comprehensive relief.
Get yourself out of the cross-hairs of debt collectors. Get input from a non-profit credit counselor or a bankruptcy attorney who can lay out your options. The sooner you gather sound information, the sooner you can make good decisions about winning the battle against debt.
