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When the phone is ringing off the hook with harassing phone calls from creditors, it can be an extremely stressful time. Calls from collection agencies are never amicable and often can be downright abusive in nature. Many harassing phone calls from creditors include threats of criminal action, damage to your employment relationship and other illegal and unethical actions by collection agencies. It is important to understand that collection agencies that employ these questionable and, in some cases, illegal tactics have no interest in helping you resolve the situation. These agencies have the singular purposes of collecting whatever funds they can from you without regard for your financial situation or individual financial crisis.
Many people suffer these harassing phone calls from creditors for months or even years believing that they have no other choice. The emotional toll of being afraid to answer one’s own phone and being berated by a collection agent when one does can make the stress and anxiety of being unable to pay one’s bills unbearable. This type of stress and anxiety can have serious long-term medical consequences.
There is no need to endure such abuse because you can stop harassing phone calls from creditors. An experienced Arizona bankruptcy attorney may be able to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy on your behalf and stop the harassing phone calls almost immediately. Once a bankruptcy petition has been filed, an automatic stay becomes effective which means that creditors may not continue to call you and harass you on the phone. The harassing phone calls and threatening letters all stop once a bankruptcy has been filed. All your creditors will be provided with notice of the bankruptcy by being served and may be subject to financial liability if they violate the automatic stay.
The automatic stay is designed to allow debtors to catch their breath by granting a temporary retrieve from collection efforts and debt enforcement. The automatic stay is also designed to protect debtors and also creditors during the bankruptcy process.
While filing bankruptcy is the most effective way to stop harassing phone calls by creditors, there are interim measures that you can take to stop harassing phone calls from creditors and collection agencies. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) protects consumers from harassing creditor phone calls. If a collection agency or creditor about a debt contacts you, you have a right to request that the creditor or collection agency confirm the debt. If the debt collector cannot provide confirmation of the debt, the collector is prohibited from contacting your further.
Other FDCPA restrictions also limit the time and manner of phone contacts from creditors. Creditors must call between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. You may designate inconvenient times when you are unavailable, and creditors may not call you during these times. There is also no requirement that you speak with debt collectors. It is completely within your rights to hang-up on creditors and collection agencies and refuse to speak with them. Creditors are also prohibited from repeatedly calling you even if you refuse to speak to them and hang-up on the telephone call. Another alternative is to insist that any communication be in writing. This prevents disputes about what is actually said, and such a request must be observed, or the creditor may be subject to civil liability in a lawsuit.
We deal with ordinary folks just like you throughout Arizona who are overwhelmed with harassing phone calls from creditors. The Arizona bankruptcy lawyers at Stone Rose Law can help you make the harassing phone calls stop immediately. Our Arizona bankruptcy law firm has helped people throughout Arizona that feel the stress and pressure caused by overzealous debt collectors.
Stone Rose Law is committed to helping those buried under overwhelming debt so call us today at 480-498-8998.