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There is little legal weight to what someone says over the telephone. The caller can say what they like with impunity. And that is why debt collectors use the telephone as their main weapon. When exchanges with consumers are done in writing, debt collectors lose their effectiveness.

What matters in court are the written communications, or the lack of them, between a consumer and a credit card debt collector. Mail sent certified return receipt requested further helps the consumer put the debt collector on the defensive.

It is commonly accepted that all credit card debt collectors lie on the telephone. Here are some of the lies they tell over the telephone:

1. They claim you are the target of a lawsuit in your local court and that youll get your summons any day.

2. Or they may ask you for a small payment, which is well within your means surely that is acceptable? Not so, if you make this payment then you have legally documented admission to the debt, and made things worse.

3. They tell you you may be arrested, knowing no one can be arrested for a civil matter.

4. They will tell you may have your wages reduced to pay your debt, and you will get a negative listing on your credit report.

5. They tell you they can seize your bank account.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is violated by each of these threats.

These threats are attempts to get you to confirm that the debt is yours. The credit card debt collector wants to confirm the credit card number in question and get other personal information. They want to know your Social Security number, the phone number of your work place and even information about your bank account. The Credit Card Debt Survival Guide says that you should react by disputing the debt and denying it over the phone to the credit card debt collector. Remember that the person on the other end of the line unknown to you. Tell them you do not share personal information over the phone with people unknown to you and then hang up.

If you end up taking a call from a credit card debt collector, you should only stay on long enough to find out what debt they are telephoning about. Before hanging up, advise them that you need written notice of this debt and that you will not talk about it over the phone.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows the consumer to instruct the debt collector in writing to stop all collection calls. After that each call is a violation of the law, and subject to a $1000 penalty. Consumers should keep logs of the phone calls and contact a consumer rights attorney, who may agree to sue the credit card debt collector over these violations on a contingency fee basis.

Matt Highlander learned how to frustrate credit card debt collectors and collection attorneys. If you cannot afford to pay, read his Credit Card Debt Survival Guide

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