What Should You Do When a Debt Collector Calls?

When a debt collector calls you, it's important to keep a record of what happened, especially if you think your rights may have been violated.

Consumer law attorneys need, at a minimum, the following information to begin a prosecution of your rights under the FDCPA, FCCPA, or TCPA:

• The number that called
• The time of the call
• The date of the call
• The name of the company calling, if known.

Any time a new number calls you, it is important to answer the phone at least once to make sure that a given phone number belongs to the same debt collection company. Once you have this information, you can hang up. Any future calls from that particular phone number can be logged as belonging to that same company.

This is information that anyone can maintain and, importantly, does not require you to ever answer the phone to talk to the debt collector, other than when a brand new phone number is calling you.

Sometimes debt collectors can be too much to handle on a persistent basis. They thrive on eroding your willpower because that is how they think they will get paid. It is completely understandable to not want to talk to these vampires any longer than you have to.

Keep a Log of Calls from Debt Collectors

However, if you are willing or capable to pick up the phone when they call, then a consumer law attorney would also like to have the following information for each call:

• Whether any part of the call, at all, was a recorded or artificial voice (even for one second at the start of the call).
• The name of the employee who engages you in conversation.
• Whether the conversation became aggressive, threatening, insulting, or filled with insults or cursing.
• Whether the employee mentioned any potential legal action (e.g. “we're going to sue you.”)

When you contact a consumer law attorney, be sure to mention that you have a notebook or other log containing this information. They will love you and, crucially, they will love how easy you've made it to fight back against these vampires.