Credit card fraud is usually preventable

Written by Jakob Jelling


Continued from page 1

If you do find that there are charges on your credit card that you don't remember making, then you might be a victim of credit card fraud. Luckily, there are a lot of options to people who think that their credit card might be stolen. The first thing you should do if you think that your card or card number has been stolen is to call up your credit card company and immediately cancelrepparttar card. This will keeprepparttar 111775 person who has stolen your card from using it anymore. While you'll still have to deal with what has already been done with your card, you will at least have limitedrepparttar 111776 damage.

To keep yourself from being a victim of credit card fraud, however,repparttar 111777 most important thing to do is just to use common sense. If something seems shady, then it probably is, and you shouldn't risk your credit card number if you are unsure ofrepparttar 111778 situation.

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.cashbazar.com. Visit his website for the latest on personal finance, debt elimination, budgeting, credit cards and real estate.


How to Deal with Bill Collectors

Written by Chris Cooper


Continued from page 1

Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, collectors may not:

• collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge; • deposit a post-dated check prematurely; • use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams; • take or threaten to take your property unless this can be done legally; or • contact you by postcard.

However, as I said before, a lot of debt collectors will ignore this law whenever they can. So it is very important that you build a case against harassing debt collectors.

Send repeated certified letters outlining what they said or did.

Taperepparttar phone conversations. Tellrepparttar 111774 collector you’re doing so. If he continues to talk, he’s considered to have consented torepparttar 111775 taping.

If you contestrepparttar 111776 debt, ask that you be sent proof of it in writing. In many cases, neitherrepparttar 111777 creditor norrepparttar 111778 collector can produce this.

Check your credit report and, if you see false entries, contest them right away.

If you do owerepparttar 111779 debt, negotiate calmly and in good faith. Because it gives you more time to think, I would try to carry out all negotiations in writing or hire an attorney to do them for you. This will also give you a paper trail if you have to proceed in court.

Do not be bullied into rushing into an agreement and do not make any payments unlessrepparttar 111780 agreement is in writing.

For example, ifrepparttar 111781 bill collector agrees to take half ofrepparttar 111782 amount you owe as full payment and reportrepparttar 111783 debt paid torepparttar 111784 credit bureaus, get it in writing. Ifrepparttar 111785 collector won’t send you a letter, send him a certified letter accurately stating allrepparttar 111786 terms of your agreement.

It is not unknown for bill collectors to settlerepparttar 111787 case with a debtor and then sellrepparttar 111788 rest ofrepparttar 111789 debt to another collection agency, which will try to collectrepparttar 111790 unpaid balance. This is why it is very important to have a paper trail.

If you have old debts that have apparently gone away, beware ofrepparttar 111791 "zombie" bill collectors. They are buying unpaid debts for pennies per hundred of dollars of debt and then trying to harass debtors to pay. Even if they only get a few dollars, they make money.

The problem is that in many casesrepparttar 111792 statute of limitations on collectingrepparttar 111793 debt is run. If you make a payment, you can reopenrepparttar 111794 statute,repparttar 111795 debt can be reported to credit bureaus as freshly delinquent and you can open yourself up to all sorts of problems. Sometimes even sayingrepparttar 111796 wrong thing to one of these guys can be considered an acknowledgement ofrepparttar 111797 debt, allowing them to reopenrepparttar 111798 statute of limitations.

If you have any old unpaid debt become familiar withrepparttar 111799 statute of limitations, generally 4 to 6 years, inrepparttar 111800 state where you live now and, if applicable, inrepparttar 111801 states you lived in when you ran uprepparttar 111802 debt.

The best way to handle a "zombie" bill collector is to refuse to speak to him. Just hang uprepparttar 111803 phone.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is rather vigorously enforced byrepparttar 111804 FTC and state attorney generals. Make complaints to both is you feel you being unfairly treated.

Also you have a private right of action againstrepparttar 111805 debt collectors. You can sue a bill collector in a state or federal court within one year fromrepparttar 111806 daterepparttar 111807 law was violated. If you win, you may recover money forrepparttar 111808 damages you suffered, plus an additional amount up to $1,000. Court costs and attorney's fees also can be recovered. If you need a lawyer referral, go to National Association of Consumer Advocates website. http://www.naca.net

Also I would suggest you buy or borrow fromrepparttar 111809 library "Money Troubles: Legal Strategies to Cope With Your Debts (Solve Your Money Troubles)" by Robin Leonard, if you have a lot of debt. It best to know what you’re facing and how to handle yourself going in.

Remember, even if you can tamerepparttar 111810 bill collectors, your debts do not go away. The next step will probably be lawsuits and garnished wages. That is whyrepparttar 111811 best course of action is to negotiate with your creditors fromrepparttar 111812 very beginning.



Chris Cooper is a retired attorney who has spent several periods of his life deep in debt. At http://www.credit-yourself.com he tries to pass on some of the knowledge he picked up in his journey to become debt free.


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