Falling into debt without a doubt serves as one of the most stressful financial – and overall life – experiences that anyone can go through. It helps in this time to understand all potential options available, including bankruptcy.
In addition to alleviating the burden of insurmountable debt, bankruptcy can also protect those in debt from the workings of debt collectors, both legal and not.
Adhering to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes a look at debt collectors and what they can and cannot do when collecting. Most debt collectors will stay within the lines drawn by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), while a few may try to use misleading or even harassing tactics to try to get you to pay up faster.
Of course, the latter poses a legal issue that you can actually take to court. If you believe that a debt collector has misrepresented facts, misrepresented agents working for the agency or lied to you, you can potentially take them to court for damages. The same goes for cases of harassment, in which a debt collector may curse at you, call you at all hours, threaten you with eviction or physical harm and so on.
Stopping collection efforts with bankruptcy
But taking someone to court can cost a lot of money and eat up your time. If you want to stop harassment in its tracks without going through litigation, you can also file for bankruptcy. Doing this puts an immediate stay on any collection, i.e. debt collectors cannot attempt to gather your money in any way.
You can fall back on this even when dealing with a debt collector acting within the parameters of the FDCPA. If you want to learn more about how bankruptcy can help you, consider speaking to legal aid.
