Consumers with debt problems have to deal with their creditors constant attempts to collect their debts. Although creditors have every right to ask for their money, there are creditors who go beyond the proper way of debt collection. Creditors may bombard a debtor with frequent calls even late at night or very early in the morning. They may use abusive language in their calls or call the borrower’s friends and relatives without consent. Some creditors may go as far as threatening their debtors if they don’t pay their debts. If you’re experiencing these things from your creditors, then you are clearly experiencing creditor harassment. Dealing with a harsh creditor puts more pressure and anxiety on the borrower especially when faced with financial crisis.

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As a borrower, it is not wise to hide from your creditors or ignore their attempts to contact you if you have delayed or have skipped with your payments. On the contrary, you should try and talk with your creditor as early as possible to let them know about your current financial situation.
If you’ve been laid off from a job, have been sick or experiencing other circumstances that are beyond your control, you should definitely inform your creditor about it and explain why you haven’t been able to keep up with your payments.

In most cases, talking with a lender helps straighten out the situation. However, it is a fact that there are lenders who refuse to show consideration or extend kindness to a borrower in crisis. When this is the case, trying to negotiate would not be the best solution.

Consumers should be aware that under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, creditor harassment is a direct violation of the law. A creditor is not allowed to use offensive, profane or abusive language; threaten a person; call during inappropriate hours; and contact a third party to inquire or disclose any information about the borrower’s debts. As a borrower, you have the right to protect yourself and not allow your creditors to treat you abusively. You can send your creditor a “cease & desist” letter telling them not to contact you in reference to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Sometimes, due to extreme financial difficulties, a borrower is left with just one solution and that is filing for bankruptcy. Filing for bankruptcy protects you from creditor harassment and other unlawful debt collection practices. After filing, the Bankruptcy Court and your attorney will immediately send a mail to your creditors informing them about this move. If your creditor calls you before the mail reaches them, you may tell them that you have done so as well.

According the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, creditors should stop all their debt collection attempts right after the bankruptcy has been filed by their debtor. If the creditor fails to do so and still continue to collect debts, he will be facing charges and penalties. Clearly, creditors must stop contacting their debtor at once if he filed for bankruptcy.