Why do bill collectors…?
To learn about how they operate, check out Dave Ramsey’s website on Financial Peace University. He taught us all about bill collectors and how they work in his workhop. Since calling every day irritates most people, they’ll call during dinner hour every day to pester you to see if they can shake some money or at least a promise of money out of you. They do it because it works. They are limited by the Fair Debt Collection Act in how far they can go – no calls after 9:00PM, no threats, etc. But many ignore the limits. Their goal is to arouse some strong emotion in you – fear, anger, suspicion of your spouse, whatever they can cause you to feel. This increases the probability you’ll pay at least some, and they can get their commission. Credit cards are worse about this than any other type of collector. You can negotiate with them, though. I think I got my moneys worth in the class on this alone. You can offer a partial settlement in cash to be written “Paid in full” on your credit report.
