Changing Your Mindset About Who Bill Collectors Are And What They Do

You need to shift the way you think about bill collectors and bill collecting.  A bill collector, if contacting you by phone, is simply a telemarketer trying to sell you on the idea that you owe his company money.

They Like To Trick You Into Paying

Most of the time, you arguably do not owe them money. This may be especially true regarding credit card debt. However, they will do their best to intimidate or bully you into thinking you do owe them money and that you ‘have’ to pay them.

If they had a legal leg to stand on, they would most likely pursue you in your local court system instead of calling you on the telephone.

What is often going on, especially in regard to credit card debt, is that the alleged ‘debt’ is nothing more than a charge off from a legitimate credit card company that was sold to the collection agency for pennies on the dollar. When the credit card company wrote the lost debt off, they took a tax credit from the federal government. At that point, it is very arguable that they lost the right to collect anything on that debt.

However, the ‘bill collector’ will try to collect the full amount from you or ‘settle’ for half or a quarter. In reality, they would be making a huge profit on the pennies that they spent for your information!

Keep that in mind when they call you.

How To Stop A Bill Collector Cold In Its Tracks

People who work for bill collection companies do not want you to know that they are scamming you!

By asking questions, instead of answering them, you are in the driver’s seat.  They will attempt to interrupt you with question of their own to try and turn the tables.  Just realize, that they called you and that it is your phone.  You own the conversation,  not the greedy animal on the other end of the line.

Here is a wonderful way to handle these people. They will most likely not make it past your 5th question without trying to interrupt you. Once they realize that you are not easy prey, they will actually WANT to get off the phone.

They work on commission  If they know they cannot collect from you, they will quickly move on to the next person on their list. No potential money, means they will not want to talk to you!

Here is what you can do. And this works equally well with most other telemarketers too!

You Have Requirements When Talking to Strangers (Especially Bill Collectors)

You can tell them that when speaking on the phone to someone you do not personally know that you require a series of questions to be answered before you will speak with them.

Here are some samples – and you should take your time and write down their every answer making them spell things letter by letter -  just for fun!

Example:

What is your name?  Spell it for me.

What company do you work for?  Spell it for me.  I didn’t get that, can you spell it again?

What is the address of your company? Spell it for me.

What is your telephone number? Spell it for me.

What is your cube or office number? Repeat that for me.

(remember, if they interupt you, remind them that answering all of your questions is a requirement you have when talking to someone you don’t personally know – Failure to answer ALL of your questions will result in termination of the call) [ This puts YOU in the driver's seat] They have no option but to comply or hang up.

What is your boss’ full name? Spell it.

What is your boss’ telephone number? Repeat it for me.

What is your personal telephone number (not your work number)? Repeat it for me.

What is your home address? Repeat it for me.

What is your Social security number? Repeat it for me.

What are the names of your children? Spell them for me.

Where do they go to school at? Spell that for me.

When are they home alone? Repeat that for me.

(No telemarketer / bill collector in their right mind will honestly answer these questions) However, if they do not – remind them that this is a requirement before you will talk to them!

Your Bill Collector Should Hang Up With The Realization That They Are Wasting Their Time

By this time, they will most likely hang up on you.

However, if they do not and you run out of questions. Here is the final way to deal with them.

Since I don’t know you and my time is very valuable, I charge a fee just to talk to me. The rate is $50 per hour (or whatever amount you want) with one hour paid in advance. Do you have a paypal account?

Have them send you a paypal payment and that you will wait to confirm you have received the payment before CALLING THEM BACK on their personal cell number of course!

If they are dumb enough to pay you, you should consider calling them back, it is a great way to make some cash. LOL. .

You get the idea, it is unlikely that these bill collectors / telemarketers will make it through the first 5 questions before trying to interupt you or just plain hanging up on you!

Remember, bill collectors that call you are just telemarketers trying to sell you the idea that you owe them money!

Check with your attorney for proper legal advice before pursuing any particular course of action.

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