Debt Collectors May Say Anything To Get You To Pay!
By Bankruptcy Attorney on Mar 15, 2007 in General Bankruptcy Information, Texas
You are behind on some of your payments, and it seems like the phone won’t stop ringing with calls from debt collectors. You have been told many things by the debt collectors, and just don’t know how much of what you hear is true. Some of the things you’ve been told may be similar to the statements below:
- “The lawsuit is in the mail.”
- “I checked, and you don’t qualify for bankruptcy.”
- “They changed the laws so you can’t file bankruptcy now.”
- “We can take your house if you don’t pay your debt.”
- “We’ll garnish your pay if you don’t pay your debt”
- “We’ve sent the police over to your house to collect the debt.”
The truth:
- Lawsuits are generally brought to you in person
- A practicing bankruptcy attorney is the best person to tell you whether or not you qualify for bankruptcy.
- Bankruptcy is definitely still available.
- Most states have laws that protect your home and other essential assets from your creditors.
- Garnishment is not available to all creditors in all states. For example, in Texas only child support creditors and federal government creditors such as the IRS and student loans may garnish wages.
- And lastly, the police and the sheriff’s departments are not debt collectors, and would be unlikely to arrest someone for failing to pay debts which are not for court fines or criminal restitution.
According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act debt collectors are not supposed to say things which are not true in order to collect debts. See Stephen Otto’s blog entitled Debt Collectors Step up the Fight with War Training.
If you are receiving calls from debt collectors, you need to visit with a local bankruptcy attorney to find out what options are available to you.
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