Collection Calls And Letters After Bankruptcy - Not Rare, But Very Illegal
January 2, 2007
The U.S. Bankruptcy Code exists to give people relief from their debts, and from bill collectors who will stop at nothing. Whether it’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the law provides for many debts to be discharged so you can get a fresh financial start.
Unfortunately, many creditors, collection agencies, and debt purchasing companies will do anything possible to continue collecting debts that have been discharged in bankruptcy.
It should be simple enough for the creditors to understand - when a debt is discharged, nobody can try to collect it from you. Period. End of argument.
The problem is that creditors, collectors and debt buyers routinely try to collect on debts that have been discharged in bankruptcy. They do this because they are betting that you will be too scared to do anything about it, and that you’ll pay the debt. Creditors don’t believe the laws apply to them, so they do anything they can to make you pay - send you letters, make phone calls, sell the debt to other companies, or merely sit on your credit report until you need it most. It doesn’t matter how long it takes because the creditors know they can recapture a significant amount of money from consumers like you every year.
It’s important to realize that you have remedies, and that you can fight back against the illegal scare tactics of the creditors.
For example, it is not unheard of for a consumer to receive a collection from a creditor years, even decades after a bankruptcy case. The original creditor has probably sold the debt a number of times, and by now it’s so old it couldn’t be collected even if a bankruptcy hadn’t been filed. Yet there it is, a collection letter sitting in your mailbox.
What do you do? You take action!
The U.S. Bankruptcy Code provides for the winning party to force the losing party to pay not only damages, but also legal fees. That means if you have been taken advantage of by the illegal tactics of bill collectors, creditors or debt buyers then most lawyers will not charge you any up-front fee.
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