When dealing with debt, it is important to keep an eye out for creditors. While most of them abide by the law, many may attempt to get around it in an attempt to collect faster.
Thus, it is important to know the potential red flags that might indicate a creditor is attempting to engage in harassing behaviors.
The subtlety of harassment
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau examines laws related to debt collection and debt collectors. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prevents creditors and collectors from engaging in misleading or harassing behaviors when collecting, but this naturally does not stop everyone.
In fact, many debt collectors will engage in more subtle harassing behaviors in order to avoid getting called out for their law-breaking.
For example, many will engage in illegal phone calls. This happens when debt collectors call a target regardless of the hour. They often refuse to identify themselves, especially in messages, and generally, just aim to intimidate or irritate the target or their family.
Extreme harassing behaviors
There are more extreme examples of harassment too, however. In some cases, harassing debt collectors will hire someone or have a member of the agency park outside of the target’s property and simply stay there, watching the target. This is an implicit threat to the victim and anyone living in their home, even if the person doing the watching never steps on their property.
Threatening a victim with legal action or eviction is another common tactic. Anyone facing this sort of harassing behavior could potentially take the aggressor to court over their deeds.
