Debt Collection
Statistics show that 97 to 98% of American households are able to pay their bills on time. Nearly all of the 2 to 3% of the households who are behind on their bills were current until they faced a financial catastrophe like unemployment, illness, disability, or succumbing to the daily exhortations in their mailbox to borrow, borrow, borrow. Recognizing this, federal and many states’ laws require that financially distressed consumers not be abused, deceived or treated unfairly.
Increasingly brazen elements of the debt-collection industry are hounding hundreds of thousands of Americans who have fallen behind on their debts. Collectors use various forms of intimidation, including talking with relatives, friends, and employers about a consumer’s debt without his permission; making harassing or abusive telephone calls; and threatening to take actions that are illegal or not intended. The wave of harassment by debt collectors is especially tough on low-income people who are often -- but by no means exclusively -- its targets. |
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NCLC Special Reports and Press Releases
NCLC Decries Debt Collection Horror Stories, June 7, 2007
Press Release
Comments to the FTC
Appendix of 34 stories from 17 states
Press Materials : NCLC Calls on Media to Expose Debt Collection Industry's Widespread Illegal Practice
Policy Analysis
Comments to the Federal Regulators on the InterAgency Guidance on Exempt Benefits, November 27, 2007
NCLC's Comment Opposing Debt Collectors Autodialing Personal Cell Phones, April 2006
NCLC Criticizes States Treating Checking Account Mistakes As Criminal
Testimony: The Consumer Impact of Regulatory Relief Proposals Affecting Banks, Thrifts and Credit Unions, March 1, 2006
Policy Analysis Archive
Consumer Information
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Fair
Debt Collection
NCLC Reports:
Debt Collection & Repossesion Ed. |
and NCLC