A few minutes after you sit down for dinner, your Smartphone rings not once, not twice, but three times over the course of the meal. All three calls go straight to voice mail and when you retrieve the messages, you find the third message to be especially alarming.
You have just received a phone call from Wakefield & Associates, Inc.
There is not a law that prohibits a debt collection agency from contacting you at 6:00 in the evening. However, there is a federal law that prohibits third party debt collectors from calling consumers before 8:00 am and after 9:00 pm.
Called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the landmark federal law evened the score between consumers and debt collection agencies such as Wakefield & Associates.
Although the FDCPA addresses several issues that involve debt collector phone calls, you should work with a licensed consumer protection lawyer to reap all the legal benefits offered by the federal law.
A Consumer Protection Lawyer Can Coach You
A representative from a debt collection agency wants you to be caught off guard when he or she calls.
The element of surprise can trip up the savviest consumer by allowing a debt collection agency representative to extract information that by law you do not have to offer.
Debt collection agencies thoroughly train bill collectors to ask rapid fire questions in logical sequences.
A representative from an agency like Wakefield & Associates will read from a script that has withstood the test of time.
The best strategy for you is to hire a FDCPA lawyer to coach you on how to respond to the questions posed by a third party debt collector.
How to Respond to a Phone Call from Wakefield & Associates, Inc.
One of the most common coaching techniques used by consumer protection lawyers is to encourage clients to contest the validity of outstanding credit card or personal loan balances.
A conversation with a representative from Wakefield & Associates, Inc. might start like this:
Representative: “Hello, may I speak with George Sampson?”
George: “May I ask who is calling?”
![Phone Script For When Wakefield & Associates, Inc. Calls*]()
This is an appropriate response to the debt collector’s first question because you never want to voluntarily divulge information such as your name right at the start of a phone conversation.
Wait until a representative from Wakefield & Associates, Inc. asks for information, before you decide whether to share any information at all.
The FDCPA requires third party debt collectors to identify themselves clearly at the beginning of phone calls conducted with consumers.
After stating your name and only your name, immediately inform the bill collector you will tape record the entire conversation.
After turning on the tape recorder, request the representative from Wakefield & Associates, Inc. send you information that validates the existence of a delinquent debt.
Follow the script written by your lawyer to ensure the debt collector does not ask several rapid fire questions in a row that can throw you off your game.
As they said during the Wild, Wild, West era, never go into a gun fight unarmed.
The same principle applies to handling third party debt collectors like Wakefield & Associates, Inc. Speak with a FDCPA lawyer today to learn how to fight back against debt collection agency phone calls.
Additional Resources
*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 NCB Management Services, Inc. or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.