Hmmm…I smell a rat commonly found on Pirate ships. A common remark left from a commission driven debt collector on blogs like this is, “You owe the debt; you need to pay it.” Ignorant!! Where does the article mention not to pay back your debts!

Matter of fact after talking to thousands of Americans over the years I rarely speak to someone that has sizable assets and a good income that just doesn’t want to pay back their debts. These people are not reading this post they are doing the easiest thing, change their phone number! Fact, less than 2.25% of all revolving debt is in 30 day default out of over 50 million cards issued. Fact, 99% of Americans I speak to want to pay back their debts but need help to stop the abusive treatment from a commissioned debt collector trying to fill their debt book.

Tell me Graham what do I say to this woman from New Orleans I spoke with yesterday, “You owe the debt; you need to pay it.”

I’ll refer to her as Anita; her elderly mother was very sick with no health insurance and needed expensive medication to survive. Anita exhausted all of her assets and used all of her credit to keep her alive. Anita’s mom just died last month, and to make matters worse she lost her home to Katrina. She is being harassed by a debt collector, Unifund, for a 2005 credit card debt of $2,500. They have threaten to call her job to get her fired and they now what a $1,000 a month on what they now claim is a $18,000 debt. They won’t explain why it’s that much they told her its private information. She wants to pay it back but her health is now under attack because she can’t sleep at night worrying that one day someone is going to walk into her job and get her fired!

But I guess if I were you I should just say, “You owe the debt; you need to pay it.” Hmmm… I guess we can ignore the abuse and violations of the FDCPA and just walk the plank, something that would just make your day.

I think Steve was trying to provide a few tips and suggestions on how to deal with debt collectors if you find yourself facing collections. I’ve never had a debt collector after me but I have read numerous stories of how ruthless and harassing they can be.

Now that doesn’t mean you can or should wash your hands of the obligation to pay the debt, but there are things you should and should not do with regard to debt collectors.

Hopefully Steve will stop by to share his thoughts on your comment.