“Debt collector horror stories abound: There are threats to dig up the dead relatives of those who couldn’t pay their funeral bills, promises to imprison debtors or take their children into custody — even warnings that pets will be killed.
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collectors are prohibited from threatening violence, using profane language, calling incessantly, inflating a debt and implying they are attorneys. And they can’t tell consumers they will arrest them or garnish their wages or property unless they actually plan to take that action and are legally able to do so through a court order. Many states have their own rules governing debt collector practices as well.
These are some of the latest outrageous allegations of abuse:
Threatening to take away children: Last week, the Federal Trade Commission shut down a Texas-based debt collector, Goldman Schwartz, for using deceptive and abusive scare tactics to force people to pay their payday loan debts. Among the alleged offenses:collectors called consumers incessantly, saying “we can take you to jail” or “we’ll send the sheriff’s department to your job and take care of this the hard way,” even though they had no legal basis to do so….”
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