You have had trouble paying your debt lately. In fact, you could not make your payments for the last couple of months because of the lack of money. As a result of this, collection agencies have begun to call you several times a week, reminding you harshly of your debt and they are beginning to demand you to pay it.

Perhaps the collection agencies are asking you a bunch of information that you do not want to give them. But what CAN they ask you that is legal, and not considered harassment? How many of the questions that they ask you do you have to answer, and how much information can you hold back without getting into trouble?

Honestly, you have rights that protect you from giving ANY information to collection agencies. However, this may not always be the smartest thing to do. Ignoring your problems will not make them go away, but confronting them and negotiating will help you to solve them more easily.

1. Bank Account Information

Do not give collection agencies access to your bank account, no matter what they tell you and no matter how much they try to persuade you, they do not need your bank account information to help you settle your debt with your creditors. There are several scam artists out there who claim to be collection agencies who will ask for this information not to help you, but only to drain your bank account and leave you even more broke than you were before.

2. Be Polite

In any case, it is beneficial to be polite to the collection agency. No matter how mad you want to get at them because they are TRYING to provoke anger in you (mainly because it can be used against you in court if you continue to neglect paying your bills), getting angry will not help the matter but only make it worse. You should be polite and patient with the collection agencies, just as you would like them to be patient and work with you. In other words, DON’T say anything to them that would give them reason to sue you in court.

3. Give Information that Will Benefit You

If there is something that the collection agency asks of you that will help you to work out a plan to pay the money back, give it to them. You need to be cooperative so that you can work out a solution to the problem at hand, otherwise the problem is only going to get worse. Let the collection agency know just how much you can afford to pay each month until you have worked it out, and ask them if they can work out a plan that will alow you to do so.

Dealing with collection agencies doesn’t have to be a hassle. It can be easy if you are willing to be reasonable with them and keep the conversation at a civilized level, rather than a heated yelling match. They can help you if you ask for it, or they can make your life totally miserable otherwise.

You haven’t paid your debt in a while. The collection agency has called you several times to demand the money that you owe. This has probably gotten very stressful, and to make matters worse, the collection agency you are dealing with calls several times a week with only mean and harsh things to say.

Perhaps you have even written a letter to the collection agency telling them to stop contacting you. Though this will not make your debt go away, it is required of them to stop calling you under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act, or the FDCPA. However, they still have not stopped calling you and harassing you about paying your bills.

Finally, you get fed up with it. After learning more about the FDCPA, you discover that what the collection agency that has been contacting you is doing a number of things that are illegal. So, you decide to be prepared next time the call, and you write down generally everything that was said, what time they called, and who you spoke with. Now what?

You believe that you have enough information to make a formal complaint in court. Still, what exactly do you do to go about suing a collection agency? What steps should you take that would better ensure that your case gets the attention that it needs, and that you actually get somewhere with it, rather than just biding your time and temporarily averting attention from your debt?

Here are a few things you should do when filing a complaint against a collection agency:

1. Save the Proof

One of the things that will help you the most when filing a formal complaint is proof. You should have evidence of the harassment you are getting from the collection agencies, like the time and date of which you spoke on the phone with someone from a collection agency, who that person was, and maybe even a recording of the phone call if you may have it. You will also want a copy of any threatening letters that may have been sent to you by the collection agency.

2. File Abuse

Once you have the proof, now is time to take legal action against the collection agency. You do this by writing a formal complaint letter to your state attorney general’s office letting them know specifically what the problem is. Do not beat around the bush. Let them know exactly how the collection agency has violated your rights and where those specific rights and rules are cited in the FDCPA. If you do not state the specific violation and give them the proof of it, your case will not be taken seriously and cannot be considered legitimate.

3. The Better Business Bureau

Also, you probably want to report the actions of the collection agency to the Better Business Bureau. They may also be of some help to you in this matter. Though you may file a complaint to both your attorney general’s office and the BBB, your best option, of choosing between the two, would be the attorney general’s office.