Many collection agencies are filled with honest and professional people who sincerely want to provide assistance to help you pay a debt. They will treat you and your situation with respect and concern. Collection agencies are a fact of life, and it is stressful to constantly receive phone calls, certified letters and other stressful reminders that you owe somebody, somewhere, money.

There are also other kinds of collection agencies, the ones we hear about more often. They will badger you with phone calls, sometimes three or four times a day, demanding when payment will be made. There are no repayment plans offered; only threatening letters of lawsuits and judgments. In fact, some are computer generated with computer voiced instructions to return the call. Some collectors have been known to scream over the phone and cause considerable psychological harm to those who are easily intimidated.

Collection agencies are doing their job and do have the right to collect a debt you owe. But as a consumer, you do have certain rights. You are protected under legislation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA. This requires collection agencies to follow certain guidelines and code of conduct. Regulations under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibit collection agencies from speaking to your neighbors or contacting your employer to discuss collection of a debt.

While these laws do not protect you from the original creditor, it does create an atmosphere of civility. If you owe the money, you have to pay it. Unless you have filed personal bankruptcy, there are also statute of limitations considerations on the debt owed, so it is wise to take the steps of writing a letter to begin your process of what is referred to as “Debt Validation.”

Debt Validation is the process of confirming you, in fact, are responsible for a debt. There are collection agencies that are scrupulous and use many illegal methods in order to collect your debt. In fact, some have inflated the amount owed by adding on fees, penalties and interest amounts, all resulting in profit for them. If your debt has been charged off or sold to another company, this is how they mark up the debt to make money off your misery. Other times, the debt may not even belong to you, but to someone with your same name or similar to.

You have the right to contract the collection agency and ask for the following information: How much the debt is, what calculations they used to figure the amount (which will show the added on fees, penalties, etc) and proof the debt is yours by providing a copy of the contract you would have signed. You can ask to see their license and under what authority they have to collect in your state. Ask all these questions in a certified letter, return reciept requested.

You have the right to question whether this debt is yours, or was attributed to you in error.

Also write to the three credit agencies, informing them they are violating your rights as a consumer by not investigating inaccurate or erroneous information on yoru credit report. Send this letter also by ceritified mail and return receipt requested to correct or delete this information. Also ask that after the debt is deleted that it not allow the collection agency in question to reapply for collection. Key questions and information should be confirmed by them.

Protect your financial health by monitoring your credit report constantly. Some collections agencies will attempt to reapply the debt to your credit report, even after they have been removed by a Judge in a court of law.

I Freed Myself from the Lvnv Funding Collection Agency. See How I Did it at www.lvnvfundingcollection.com