Unfair debt collection practices - protect yourself

Sometimes you face certain situations in life when you do not have any option but to take a loan to tide over the crisis. But if you cannot repay the loan within the specified time limit, that loan itself can become a huge crisis. For one thing the lenders will be after your life to get their money back and for another, your credit score can go down the drain which would stop you from getting any further loans in the future.

If you too have taken a loan sometime in your life but have been unable to repay it and is being abused everyday by the lender or if you have repaid your loan on time and yet it shows as an unpaid loan on your credit rating, do not worry as there are laws to protect you too from unfair debt collection practices. And the fair credit reporting act ensures that your credit scores are not hampered with false credit history. If faced by such a situation you can and should consult a consumer law attorney immediately to safeguard your rights.

To complain against illegal debt collection practices you must first know what comes under legal or illegal. Debt collection practices by a lender or an agency hired by a lender that resorts to abusive behavior towards the debtor or to violence in any form is totally illegal and can be complained against. And you do not need to stress yourself about the fee payment of the consumer law attorney you hire, if found guilty, it will be the duty of the lender or the agency to pay the fees on your behalf. Hence if you are at the receiving end of unlawful debt collection practices, it makes no sense to suffer in silence when a law is in place to protect you.

As for your credit rating goes, the fair credit reporting act is in place to help you fight against any false credit rating that stops you from getting any loans when in need. You can question your score and ask for a free credit report. The fair credit reporting act also allows you the right to know what credit information has been used to make your score such that you will know if a lender has deliberately or unintentionally reported an old debt as an unpaid new one. If you report such a mistake on your credit report it has to be immediately investigated and removed if found false. In case it is not done, as per the fair credit reporting act, you can file a law suit against the lender or the agency that reported the false debt.

The laws against unfair and abusive debt collection practices have helped many to live with dignity and so has the fair credit reporting act. Remember taking a loan is not a criminal offence but using unfair means to get the money back or reporting false debts on your name to sabotage your credit ratings are.