Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation
- By Fred Williams
- Published Aug 10, 2010 by FT Press.
- Copyright 2011
- Dimensions: 6 X 9
- Pages: 224
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-13-705830-6
- ISBN-13: 978-0-13-705830-3
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Product Author Bios
Fred Williams (Buffalo, NY) has written about debt collection for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the Buffalo News, and has covered personal finance since 1999. He undertook a six-month research project on the industry in 2006, supported by the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism. He followed up that work in 2008 by taking a job at one of the nation’s largest collection agencies. His work has appeared in the Washington Business Journal and USA Today, winning awards from the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and the Associated Press. He has been interviewed on MSNBC and ABC’s Good Morning America.
This year, America’s enormous, poorly regulated debt collection industry will make more than 1,000,000,000 collection calls. They will threaten. They will lie and mislead. They will intimidate. Over the past five years, they’ve racked up more than 300,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission: more than any other industry regulated by the FTC. Financial reporter Fred Williams knows more about the industry than anyone else. Not only has investigated America’s debt collection agencies, he spent three months working for one of the largest firms in the business. In Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices Williams reveals what he learned and shows you exactly how to fight back and protect your rights. Williams weaves indispensable practical advice together with stories straight from his collection agency cubicle. You’ll learn what to do first if a collector calls; what collectors can and can’t do; which debts you are and aren’t responsible for; how collectors choose accounts to focus on; how to stop harassing or abusive calls; how to keep the advantage in a negotiation for a lucrative debt settlement; even how to take the offensive with a lawsuit that can halt collection and win yourself a $1,000 penalty!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
An Engaging Story, but Not a Definitive "How-To"., By
This review is from: Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
To many of us, the debt collection world is a foreign territory that we never want to visit. The problem is that with the state of the economy and the fact that there are so many people sharing the same name (just look at Facebook), the debt collection world may come knocking just because of your name, your address, or any other commonality that you may have with their targeted debtor. When this happens, most of us have no idea how to respond other than to get angry - a tactic that generally doesn't work in the debt collection world.Fred Williams' "Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices" is divided into two parts. The first part is an engaging story of the author's three month stint working as a debt collector. His story "humanizes" the collectors and explains some of the debt collection world mentality. At the end of each of chapters 1-19, the author gives a gray-box blurb on a pertinent portion of The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requirements that... Read more
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A Very Useful Book for Learning Your Rights and Becoming Your Own Financial Advocate, By
This review is from: Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Fred Williams, a business journalist who has been writing about the collection industry since 1999, has written an excellent book that explains how debt collectors operate. The author knows his subject. In 2008, he worked for 11 weeks at a debt collection agency near Buffalo.I thought this book would be a bit boring, but I actually found it to be interesting and empowering. He exposes the often downright dirty tactics that many debt collectors engage in. It's important to know how to fight back against such methods. Williams teaches his readers how to become their own financial advocates. Knowledge is power! In the Introduction, (p.1) he notes "After reporting on the debt collection industry for years, I had heard countless stories about outrageous collection tactics. Debtors- or even people who did not owe money--recounted vicious threats and the lies that collectors used to squeeze them for cash." Such threats warned "Their house would be seized,... Read more
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Good Primer for Dealing with Debt Collectors, By Sires "I like mysteries (particularly British... (Chesapeake, OH, United States) - See all my reviews 
This review is from: Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I had the unusual advantage of knowing someone who in her misspent youth worked as a lawyer for a debt collection firm. After reading this book I passed it to her and asked her to tell me if she found anything wrong in it. She came to me today and noted that there wasn't anything in it that she thought was glaringly wrong but it seemed somewhat naive to think that debt collectors don't yell at you and lie to you and break all the rules. I explained to her gently that most people do not deal with debt collectors on a day to day basis, so what she thought was simplistic and naive may be just the ticket for someone navigating the thicket of debt collection for the first time.The schtick of the book is that the author takes a job as a debt collector in order to learn the business from the inside, after reporting about it for years on the outside. The writing is clear and simple, the points are made obvious by a statement of the law at the end of each section. He... Read more |
Online Sample Chapter
Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Lessons in Deception
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1: Debt Collection Secrets 9
Chapter 1: Lessons in Deception 11
Chapter 2: Credit Is King 23
Chapter 3: Anger Can Be Power 31
Chapter 4: Closeout: “No Tomorrow” 41
Chapter 5: The Shakedown Industry 47
Chapter 6: PIF Means Payment in Full 61
Chapter 7: Payday, the Tables Turn 69
Chapter 8: Debtors’ Rebellion 73
Chapter 9: Debt for Sale 83
Chapter 10: The Golden Rule: Money Today 89
Chapter 11: Strengths and Weaknesses 93
Chapter 12: Collector of the Week 103
Chapter 13: Retention 111
Chapter 14: A Complaint 115
Chapter 15: Data Minefield 121
Chapter 16: Graduation Day 127
Chapter 17: On the Floor 133
Chapter 18: NLE Means No Longer Employed 145
Chapter 19: Solutions 157
Part 2: Coping With Collections 161
Chapter 20: Stopping Collection Calls 163
Chapter 21: Checking Out a Collector 167
Chapter 22: Using Collection Law 171
Chapter 23: Reading Your Credit Reports 177
Chapter 24: Preparing a Complaint 183
Chapter 25: Negotiating a Debt Settlement 189
Endnotes 195
Index 201
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