How the Creditors Play When You Fall Behind on Debt Payments
When you fall behind on your debt payments, you can be certain your creditors will call. You can avoid the phone for a little while but there will undoubtedly be some days where you pick up the phone and have to speak to them. This article discusses some of the tactics creditors play in trying to get you to pay back your debt.
The most nerve racking experience about falling behind in debt is the numerous annoying phone calls you get from creditors. At some point, you are going to have to talk to them but do not let yourself be manipulated by them during this stressful period. Keep in mind that the points in this article are not intended to be taken as legal advice with regards to dealing with your creditors. When you have many doubts and uncertainties about what to do with your debt and deal with creditors then you would be wise to contact a non-profit financial counselor or a lawyer. Let’s look at a few things to consider when talking to your creditors:
Be ready for the telephone calls from your creditors shortly after your first delinquency. Things have gotten out of hand and you can’t make this month’s payment on your credit card. Be prepared for the creditors to call. First of all, if you are not ready to speak with your creditors then don’t pick up the phone until you are. Keep in mind that if this is your first late payment on a credit card that your creditors will not sell the debt to a collection agency until it is older than 180 days without a payment.
Do not listen to your creditors when they suggest you get a cash advance on another credit card. You can be certain they are going to suggest this. This does nothing but make your debt problem worse but the customer service agent working for your creditors is trained to ask you this question.
During this stressful period, be careful of the information you give your creditors. The customer service agent working for your creditors has scripted questions to ask you and they derive other information from that. One question they will ask if you tell them that you have a temporary loss of income is, “How have you been living?” You may have borrowed money from family to get by but that is really none of their business. Because if you tell them that you have received assistance from family they will ask you to ask them for more in order to pay your debt. They may ask you for a post-dated check. Don’t do it. They can take that information and clean out your bank account to get the money you owe them. The point is that there is no telling what strategy the agents representing your creditors will attempt with a goal of getting their money.
Understand that filing a lawsuit to recover your debt will probably be their last resort. More than likely the reason you don’t run to a lawyer at the first sign of debt trouble is because it is expensive. It is expensive for your creditor to recover debt as well. A lawsuit is even more expensive. If they suspect that you have a significant amount of cash lying around then they might pursue you with a lawsuit. However, more than likely, you are reading this article because you have lost income for some reason yet everyone wants the money you owe them. Creditors are part of a business just like anyone else and they are probably not going to throw good money at a debt recovery lawsuit unless they know there are assets to get.
And no, you are not going to jail. The only exception to this is if you obtained money from your creditor under fraudulent grounds (like giving false information on an application). The key is to keep a cool head and maintain mental control of the situation. Your creditors have to deal with you.