Avoiding Debt Collectors: Your Rights and Options Explained

Debt repayments can be difficult to manage for many reasons, such as drastic life changes, a build up of debt or low budgets. Not paying back your debt can lead to consequences as debt collectors could get involved to try to reclaim payments that are past the due date. They can sometimes reclaim more than what was previously owed with some creditors using forbidden tactics to get what they want.

Understanding how to deal with debt by knowing your rights and options can help you better control your situation. Most creditors will abide by the regulations, but some will try to bend the rules in their favor. As long as you are aware of the rules and laws, you can negate any intimidation tactics that may be used against you.

This guide will help you manage your debt problems by informing you of your rights when it comes to debt collectors. We will explore the guidelines and regulations to give you a clearer view of how you can deal with any outstanding debt.

Debt Collection Contact

It’s often a misconception that debt collection agencies have unique laws compared to the original creditors that allow them to receive repayments more efficiently. This isn’t the case. Both debt collectors and creditors have the same power and can’t do anything different in terms of the law.

Debt collectors can contact you in a few ways, such as an email, phone call, text message or letter. They tend to use intimidation tactics by informing you that court action will be required. However, they are not allowed to state any false information as they must comply with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules.

You should never ignore any contact attempts from debt collection agencies, as this could worsen your situation. They will continuously pester you with phone calls or emails to make you feel more stressed and paranoid in the hope that you will repay your debt. These collectors will often pressure you to pay your debt as soon as possible with either full payment or with instalments. You should only pay back when you can afford to do so.

You should seek debt help if you are unable to repay your debt to debt collectors. This will help you with preparing a budget and planning out a structured repayment method.

Statutory Requirements For Debt Collection

There are several different statutory requirements that debt collectors must follow to abide by the rules and regulations. These laws include:

• The Consumer Credit Act 1974: Consumer credit and hire agreements are governed by this Act. Although it is more pertinent to consumer debt, it can also affect business transactions, especially where there are individual guarantors.
• The Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act 1998: This covers the recovery of debt collection costs and any interest that is added to the debt when it pertains to late commercial payments.
• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA): Fair guidelines will be set by the FCA so that debt collection practices are not corrupt. It focuses mainly on consumer debt, but can also be used for commercial debt collection.
• The Insolvency Act 1986: This controls debt recovery from insolvent individuals or companies.

Your Debt Collection Rights

Debt collection laws aim to provide a fair and just process for debt repayment to give everyone an even playing field. Debtors are protected against any form of harassment from debt collectors, as it goes against the guidelines set by FCA. Any aggression shown towards the debtor that can be proven will go against the debt collector and prevent them from being able to claim the repayments.

Disputing debt is one of the biggest rights given to a debtor, as it allows them to challenge the legitimacy of the debt and the amount they owe back to the creditor. This will help with reaching a fair and accurate outcome, whether that be in favor of the debtor or the creditor. Maintaining this honorable system is a priority for the FCA and other regulations safeguard debtors.

If the debt collection agency breaches FCA guidelines, they can be imposed with sanctions, both civil and criminal. This includes the suspension or withdrawal of their license to operate, or they will be given a hefty fine.

What You Should Do If a Creditor is Harassing You

Several actions could be considered harassment from a debt collector, including:

• Multiple contact attempts a day
• Visiting your home too often
• Early morning phone calls
• Chased by multiple debt collectors from the same agency
• Social media targeting
• Fake court letters
• Verbal or physical threats
• Public embarrassment attempts
• Pressuring you into larger payments

If you feel as though you are being harassed by a debt collector, you should gather all of the evidence so that you can successfully take action against them. Keep any letters, text messages or emails throughout the process. Sometimes your creditor will have no idea that the debt collection agency they have hired is acting in this way, so you should contact them to make them aware.

It is a criminal offence to harass somebody, so you should contact a solicitor if you need debt advice on how to deal with the situation.