The Consumer Action Handbook

When Your Debt is Out of
Control - Credit
Counseling
Counseling services provide
assistance to individuals having
difficulty budgeting their money
and/or meeting necessary
monthly expenses. Many organizations,
including credit unions,
cooperative extension services,
family service centers and religious
organizations, offer free
or low-cost credit counseling.
The National Foundation for
Consumer Credit (NFCC) has
1,400 members that provide
money management techniques,
debt payment plans and educational
programs to help consumers
learn to budget and use
credit wisely. Many of its
members are locally managed,
nonprofit agencies operating
under the name Consumer
Credit Counseling Service
(CCCS). To locate the nearest
NFCC member, call 1-800-388-
2227 toll-free, 24 hours a day, or
visit its website at
www.nfcc.org. Myvesta.org is
the nation’s first, nonprofit,
Internet-based debt counseling
service. It assists families and
individuals with debt, credit,
money and financial problems
through its website at
www.myvesta.org, as well as
through one-on-one counseling
at 1-800-680-DEBT.
Debt Collection
The Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act applies to
those who collect debts
owed to creditors for personal,
family and household debts,
including car loans, mortgages,
charge accounts and money
owed for medical bills. A debt
collector is someone hired to
collect money owed by you. A
debt collector may not:
● contact you at unreasonable
times or places, for example,
before 8 a.m. or after 9
p.m., unless you agree, or at
work if you tell the debt col-
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lector your employer disapproves;
● contact you after you write
a letter to the collection
agency telling them to stop,
except to notify you if the
debt collector or creditor
intends to take some specific
action;
● contact your friends, relatives,
employer or others,
except to find out where you
live and work, or tell such
people that you owe money;
● harass you by, for example,
threats of harm to you or
your reputation, use of profane
language or repeated
telephone calls;
● make any false statement,
including that you will be
arrested; or
● threaten to have money
deducted from your paycheck
or to sue you, unless
the collection agency or
creditor intends to do so
and it is legal.
If you are contacted by a
debt collector, you have a right
to a written notice, sent within 5
days after you are first contacted,
telling you the amount owed,
the name of the creditor, and
what action to take if you
believe you don’t owe the
money. If you believe you do
not owe the money or don’t
owe the amount claimed, contact
the creditor in writing and
send a copy to the debt collection
agency with a letter telling
them not to contact you. If you
do owe the money or part of it,
contact the creditor to arrange
for payment. To file a complaint,
contact your state or
local consumer protection
agency (see page 72) and the
FTC (see page 122).
Credit Repair
Credit repair companies advertise
that they can erase bad
credit and create a new credit
identity legally, all for a hefty
fee. Don’t believe it. No one can
legally remove accurate and
timely negative information
from a credit report. No credit
repair company can do anything
you can’t do for yourself for
free. Only time, hard work, and a
personal debt repayment plan
will improve your credit report.
Under the Credit Repair
Organizations Act, credit
repair companies cannot
require you to pay until they
have completed promised
services. They must:
● provide a copy of the
“Consumer Credit File
Rights Under State and
Federal Law” before you
sign a contract;
● give you a written contract
that spells out your rights
and obligations; and
● give you three days to cancel
without paying any fees.
Some credit repair companies
promise to help you
establish a whole new credit
identity. You can be prosecuted
for mail or wire fraud if
you use the mail or telephone to
apply for credit with false information.
It is a federal crime to
make false statements on a
loan or credit application, to
misrepresent your social security
number, and to obtain an
Employer Identification Number
from the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) under false pretences.
Your state may have a
law strictly regulating credit
repair companies. Contact
your local consumer affairs
office and state attorney general
(see page 72), or the Federal
Trade Commission (see page
122) if you have lost money to
credit repair scams. The
National Fraud Information
Center accepts consumer complaints
about telemarketing and
Internet credit repair offers at
1-800-876-7060.