Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, if you are being forced to pay a debt that you are not complete sure of, you have the rights to dispute the debt and get the actual details from the CA. They will contact the original creditor and get info on the debt for which you have disputed.

The FDCPA is your most powerful weapon against any unfair or illegal collection practices. Each and every debt collector is required to follow the three basic rules mentioned in the FDCPA.

• Important FDCPA Rules:

1) Legal notification letters

All collection agents and certain attorneys must comply with section 12 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and must send the debt collection letters using the right words as mentioned in the laws. Section 807 explains the sixteen specific examples of false and misleading tactics. Anyone violating the laws can face a fine up to $1,000 per violation along with punitive damages.

2) How to take actions!

The FDCPA requires every debt collection company to follow the laws and contact the right person for their debts and collect the accurate amount. Collectors have the legal rights to locate a person by “skiptracing” but sometimes, they end up calling the wrong person because of the inaccurate information and record-keeping. It’s not illegal to contact a wrong person by mistake, but if the collection company has been well notified that they are calling the wrong person and must stop all their collection attempts, they must prohibit all their actions. In case, the collectors still continue calling the wrong person even after being informed, it is a serious violation of the federal laws, just like anyone using harassing and abusive collection tactics especially if the debtor has already disputed the validity of the debt.

• What to do if the calls continue?

After you have sent a written dispute to the collection agency regarding the validity of the debt, the collectors must stop all collection efforts and cease all contacts until have validated the account according to terms mentioned in Section 809.

If a bill collector continues to demand payments without validating the debt, he can be sued for violating the FDCPA. The debt collectors have the room to continue all collection attempts until your written dispute is receiving by them. If you don’t dispute within the 30 days time frame, the debt will be considered valid and the might take you to the court. That’s why it’s important to send letters through certified mail with return receipt requested. You will have a proof with date and time and signature from the collection company that they have received your letter. Keep all written correspondences including envelopes and mail receipts. This information will come handy when you are filing a case against a debt collector violating the FDCPA. In most states, recording debt collector’s phone calls secretly is legal. Check with your state laws before recording the calls. To be in the safe side, always let the collector know that you are recording the conversation for legal purpose. When you have the proof, contact your state attorney general and file a complaint against the illegal company.

Bills collectors are able to validate the debts if it’s a recent delinquent account. There is every possibility of getting the correct information from the creditor. But if the debt is few years old, it becomes harder to validate because of the actual information of the debt passing from one company to another and original creditor deleting some accounts or records from their system. An original creditor will sell age old debts to junk debt buyers and thus it becomes almost tough to validate the account with accurate information. The actual information gets lost on the way. The FDCPA doesn’t require collectors to tell when a certain account was sold to another company. Therefore, different companies might call you over a period of time for the same account. Always ensure that you dispute the debt whenever you are called by a different bill collector and try to get the accurate information.

Knowledge is power. Be well versed of the FDCPA laws and your rights so that you are better prepared to deal with collection situations as they come up. Sometimes, the collectors get nasty in their collections. Don’t be intimidated! Protect yourself by being aware of the laws and report any kind of violations to your state attorney general.

I don’t know about you but I often feel that credit card companies try to trick us all into choosing their credit cards over the competition by promising the earth with their amazing, one of a kind deals. They very rarely deliver and there are only a handful that lend responsibly so it is easy for any unassuming person to end up in mounting credit card debt before he or she realizes what is going on. But what is the solution?

It has become easier to choose a credit card that sounds good on paper since the advent of the numerous sites that allow you to compare credit card details, but some of you might have found them confusing with jargon, adverts and obvious biases to contend with but About Your Money is different. About your money has a section dedicated to credit cards and it does live up to its promise of providing all the information you need.

There is a credit card comparison table, a buyer’s guide and access to the latest deals from the widest range of providers. All of those tools are carefully designed with the visitor in mind so it doesn’t really matter how computer savvy you are – you can use it anyway. All of this does make it one of the better credit card comparison tools on the Internet so it is definitely worth a look!

Before you decide to close your bank account because of continuous debits from the payday loan companies, speak with your bank manager and know the policies regarding ACH transactions after the account is closed. Some banks do have the policy regarding ACH transaction that allows them to force open a closed account and allow the debit from any payday loan company if it’s done within a certain time frame after the account is closed. If your bank has such policy and can force open your closed account, you might end up owing a legal $1,000 bank charge and being reported to the chexsystem. You might have averted the whole mess by owing barely legal (or not at all legal) payday loan companies. The best thing to do is to go and meet with the branch manager in person and know about the ACH transactions after an account is closed.

Just in case, if you are dealing with a bank that has such policies, explain your situation to them. Don’t feel embarrassed. Show the letters sent to the payday loan companies revoking their rights to debit money out of your account. The best option will be to put your account on deposit only, an ach block, or on a hard hold before the account is actually closed in the final stage. Your bank can do one of these things. Don’t take their “no” as an answer. The good thing will be that any payday loan company trying to debit money out of your account won’t get through.

Closing an account is the best solution when you are dealing with so many illegal payday loan sharks on the internet. Leaving the account open gives them the chance to withdraw funds from your account. They go with different names, so blocking them won’t help because they will try to debit using a different amount. They might produce paper checks and run them through your account.

According to some state laws, a borrower can be prosecuted if you have defaulted on your payments and have closed the bank account. But that happens only if it can be proven that you have actually been committing some fraudulent activities. The best thing will be to check with your state attorney general’s office and the state banking commissioner’s office and know about the laws. You want to make sure that you are doing the right thing instead of creating more problems.

Mortgage loan is very important for all of us. Sometimes it is necessary to take remortgages also? If you need any help related to mortgage then you can visit this site:

http://www.badcredit-mortgages.org.uk/.

Many people have questions regarding their tarnished credit and search for ways to improve it. This three digit score is very important when you are shopping for new credit, or buying a home. It is the most important factor to analyze your financial worthiness. Your potential creditors will grant you new credit after reviewing the following areas on your credit report.

1. Your total payment history
2. How much is your total balance owed
3. Length of the credit score is determined
4. The types of credit used so far.
5. New credit is analyzed.

Go through the following tips and see how your credit scores can improve.

Check for any incorrect items on your credit report – Checking your credit report mandatory. There are possibilities of the three credit reporting agencies making errors since they handle zillions and zillions of consumers’ files. It is suggested to check the report once every six months and if you are applying for a new loan, check it frequently.

Timely payments – It’s a very good practice to pay the bills on time. The prompt payments will reflect on your credit report and you will be placed in a very comfortable position while applying for new credit from lenders. A late or a missed payment just before applying for new loan has severe effects on your credit reporting and the scores will go down. If the payment is missed from the last five years, it doesn’t have that much negative impact on the credit scoring.

Keep the credit balance to the minimum – It is always recommended to keep the credit card balance at the minimum. If you owe a large amount of credit, the FICO scores are affected. The FICO scores will stay good if you keep your balance less than 25% of the total credit card limit.

Regular and timely payments – Keep the debt to income ratio as low as possible. It is suggested not to close an account and transfer the balance to another account. This is because the ratio of the credit card balance is linked to the credit limit. And when you transfer the balance, the credit scores are lowered. It will be a wrong move to make especially when you are working hard on improving your scores.

Keep unused accounts active – Don’t close any unused account when you are applying for new credit. At the same time, don’t open new accounts because there’s no long payment history on that account. If you are having an old account in good standing, it will help your credit scores to improve. The lenders will need every proven track record of your credit history.

Try the following tips on your tarnished credit. You will see tremendous improvement over a period of time.

In the recent times, the consumers are largely attracted towards the different offers placed by the credit card companies.

• Zero percent financing
• 12 months no payment schemes
• No annual fees to be paid on the credit cards

Nowadays, the consumers have more buying powers than ever before. Sometimes, they feel like swimming happily in a sea of credit until they realize that it has got too late for them and are now drowning in a quagmire of debt.

What’s to be done when you find yourself in such a situation like this? There are professional services to offer aid to such consumers. You may opt for a debt settlement program and get your financial freedom back again.

In order to restore good financial status, many people have found debt settlement a good option for getting back. In such a program, a debt negotiator will work out an agreement with your creditors for settling your previous delinquent payments or unpaid balances. If you are behind on your payments and try to catch up, it may take you longer time to be debt free because of the highest interest rates charged by the creditors. A debt negotiating company will get your outstanding balance negotiated to half the total outstanding balance. The interest rates will be brought down according to your affordability and monthly payments will be set on your terms.

While you are in a debt settlement program, the creditor calls will get reduced because the debt negotiator will explain your situation to the creditors and arrangements already worked out. This way, the creditors will realize that you can now pay your debts with the help of the debt settlement company and hence, they don’t need to call you further.

In addition to these benefits, you can always speak to the counselor to offer you some tips for maintaining a healthy spending practice and keep your budget in control.

You can almost put any type of unsecured debts in the debt settlement program. In most cases, the consumers put their credit card debts in the plan. This is because credit card debt is one of the easiest and fastest types of debt to acquire. It takes a very long time to pay off the delinquent debts on which credit card companies will charge the highest interest rates. Besides credit card debts, you can actually put all other types of unsecured debts in the program. There are different types of program for every consumer addressing to their wide ranging needs.

Consider a debt settlement program only when you have gone behind on your payments and its negative effect and charged off account is showing on your credit report. Wait till the time if you can manage paying it on your own and are able to work out payment arrangement with the creditors for reducing the interest rates. If this doesn’t work, debt settlement is the best option for you.

Many people don’t realize that their financial history is at a mess until they decide to make a big purchase and are being turned down by the creditors. Be proactive with your financial situation in advance and seek advice from a credit counselor. You will never find yourself in a financial loss.