It started with several letters from an original creditor such as American Express. The letters demanded full payment of an outstanding balance. You ignored the letters from the credit card company, as well as the letters that followed from a debt collection agency like Medicredit.
Then, harassing phone calls received at work and at home made you concerned about your financial status. Still, you did not respond to the intimidating phone calls, hoping the harassment would stop.
After another hiatus from communication, the third party debt collector began to threaten you over the phone. The threats ranged from promising to inform the IRS to threatening legal action. According to a groundbreaking consumer protection law, bill collectors are not legally allowed to harass and intimidate consumers.
Enacted by the United States Congress in 1977, the Fair Debt Collection Act (FDCPA) prohibits the use of abusive language in attempts to collect delinquent consumer debts. The FDCPA also contains a section giving consumers the right to seek monetary damages for one or more violations of the federal consumer protection law.
Medicredit is Prohibited from Threatening Legal Action
After the passage of the FDCPA, most bill collectors toned down the type of threats that were previously considered legal by federal consumer protection law. However, many debt collection agencies began threatening legal action in the form of filing lawsuits against consumers that fell behind on paying off credit card and personal loan balances.
Threatening legal action takes several forms, from written threats sent by snail mail to threats made over the phone either on a voicemail system or during one-on-one interactions. Regardless of the type of threat to take legal action, the FDCPA clearly forbids third party debt collectors from issuing the threats. If Medicredit is threatening you with legal action, you should be proactive and contact a licensed FDCPA attorney.
How to Make the Threats to Take Legal Action Stop
By simply informing Medicredit that you have hired a FDCPA lawyer, the bill collector might back down and refrain from making any more threats to take legal action. In most cases, your FDCPA attorney will have to devise a legal strategy that convinces Medicredit that you are serious about protecting your FDCPA rights.
Your FDCPA attorney will carefully investigate whether Medicredit violated one of more provisions of the FDCPA. If you do not have a strong enough case to file a claim against Medicredit, your lawyer will analyze other options to get the debt collection agency off your back.
One of the most effective legal strategies involves presenting Medicredit with a debt settlement offer. You FDCPA attorney will meet with you to decide how much of the total amount owed to the third party debt collector you can afford to pay.
Then, your attorney will craft a debt settlement letter that proposes the terms of the settlement, including the proposed amount you can afford to pay and how much per month you will send the third party debt collector. Take the lead in the fight to stop the threats to take legal action. Complete the Free Case Evaluation today with an experienced FDCPA lawyer.
*Disclaimer: The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be constructed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Medicredit or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
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