Personal Finance, Loans & Insurance

Don’t let the debt collectors get you down.

The attitude to debt has changed considerably over recent generations. Whist our great grandparents might have boasted that they had never been in debt, and considered debt to be an evil consequence of excessive greed, nowadays debt is an essential part of life. For instance, going to college or university, in fact gaining any form of further education, is extremely difficult to do without incurring a substantial debt. We are encouraged by the government, by banks, by credit card companies and retail stores to indulge our current needs now and pay for them some time later. Whatever your philosophical position is regarding debt, the fact is that it is something that the vast majority of people find extremely difficult, or impossible, to avoid.

In fact there is nothing wrong with getting into debt as long as the level of debt that we incur is at a sustainable level and we can afford to repay it over time. The problems begin when we find ourselves with unaffordable debts, when for whatever reason we find that making regular repayments as originally agreed is no longer possible. This is when the debt collectors get called in. This is often a major wake up call, and anyone who finds themselves in this situation should seriously consider debt management.

Letters and phone calls from debt collectors can be extremely distressing. The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) have produced rules and regulations that place restrictions on the actions of debt collection agencies, these are often abused.

All debt collection agencies must be registered with the CSA (Credit Services Association) and they publish a set of guidelines the draw the boundaries on what is permissible in debt collecting practices. For instance agencies are not supposed to use oppressive or intrusive tactics, they should not over-pressurise the debtor, they must avoid embarrassing the debtor by making public information about them or contacting them at a public location, and they can only contact them at reasonable times. Anyone who finds that a debt collector is not complying with this, then they should complain to the CSA.