How to Deal with Bill Collectors

Written by Chris Cooper


So you’ve screwed up. You’re drowning in debt. Mayberepparttar credit card was burning a hole in your pocket and you just had to getrepparttar 111774 HDTV. Or maybe you or a family member had a medical emergency while you we laid off. It doesn’t matter to your creditors; they lent yourepparttar 111775 money and now they want it back.

The lender will try to work with you for a while and its best to try to negotiate with them at this stage. If you can’t work something out or just don’t pay, they will send your file to either an in-house bill collector or, more commonly to an outside agency.

Bill collectors are a tough bunch. They have heard allrepparttar 111776 sob stories and aren’t interested in yours. They mostly get paid on commission, so they just want to get money out of you and move on.

There aren’t many laws to get you offrepparttar 111777 hook as far asrepparttar 111778 debt goes (bankruptcy is your only choice). But there are laws that prevent harassment and abuse by bill collectors. Debt collectors tend to try to ignore these laws, but if you know your rights and insist on them, atrepparttar 111779 very least you might be able to collect damages ifrepparttar 111780 bill collector persists in ignoring them.

The major law protecting you isrepparttar 111781 Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Some states have their own versions of this law.

The law does not prevent a bill collector from contacting you, but it must be at convenient times. Contact can’t be before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree. A debt collector also may not contact you at work if you tell him that your employer disapproves of such contacts.

If you don’t want to be harassed, getrepparttar 111782 name, address and telephone number ofrepparttar 111783 bill collector. Then send a certified letter, return receipt requested tellingrepparttar 111784 collector to leave you alone. Oncerepparttar 111785 collector receives your letter, he can not contact you again, except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you thatrepparttar 111786 bill collector orrepparttar 111787 creditor intends to take some specific action against you, such as sue you or report your delinquency to a credit bureau.

The bill collector can contact friends, relatives or neighbors, but just to find out where you are. They are not supposed to be spreadingrepparttar 111788 word that you’re past due on your debts.

Within five days of first contact,repparttar 111789 collector must send you a written notice telling yourepparttar 111790 amount of money you owe;repparttar 111791 name ofrepparttar 111792 creditor to whom you owerepparttar 111793 money; and what action to take if you believe you do not owerepparttar 111794 money. You have 30 days to disputerepparttar 111795 debt, in writing (certified mail RRR again). The bill collector is then not allowed any other contact with you until he is able to send you proof of your debt.

According torepparttar 111796 Federal Trade Commission (FTC)repparttar 111797 agency charged with enforcingrepparttar 111798 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:

Debt collectors may not:

• use threats of violence or harm; • publish a list of consumers who refuse to pay their debts (except to a credit bureau); • use obscene or profane language; or • repeatedly userepparttar 111799 telephone to annoy someone.

Debt collectors may not use any false or misleading statements when collecting a debt. For example, debt collectors may not:

• falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives; • falsely imply that you have committed a crime; • falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau; • misrepresentrepparttar 111800 amount of your debt; • indicate that papers being sent to you are legal forms when they are not; or • indicate that papers being sent to you are not legal forms when they are. Debt collectors also may not state that: • you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt; • they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unlessrepparttar 111801 collection agency or creditor intends to do so, and it is legal to do so; or • actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you, when such action legally may not be taken, or when they do not intend to take such action. Debt collectors may not: • give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau; • send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not; or • use a false name.

Bollinger Bands Strategies

Written by Steven T. Ng


The Bollinger Band theory is designed to depictrepparttar volatility of a stock. It is quite simple, being composed of a simple moving average, and its upper and lower "bands" that are 2 standard deviations away. Standard deviations are a statistical tool used to containrepparttar 111773 majority of movement or "deviation" around an average value. Bear in mind that when you userepparttar 111774 Bollinger Band theory, it only works as a gauge or guide, and should be use with other indicators.

Normally, we userepparttar 111775 20-Day simple moving average and its standard deviations to create Bollinger Bands. Strategies some investors use include shorter- or longer-term Bollinger Bands depending on their needs. Shorter-term Bollinger Bands strategies (less than 20-Days) are more sensitive to price fluctuations, while longer-term Bollinger Bands (more than 20-Days) are more conservative.

So how do we userepparttar 111776 Bollinger Band theory?

The Bollinger Band theory will not indicate exactly which point to buy or sell an option or stock. It is meant to be used as a guide (or band) with which to gauge a stock's volatility.

When a stock's price is very volatile,repparttar 111777 Bollinger Bands will be far apart. In technical indicator charts, this is depicted like a widening gap. Onrepparttar 111778 other hand, when there is little price fluctuation, hence low volatility,repparttar 111779 Bollinger Bands will be in a tight range. This is depicted as narrow "lanes" alongrepparttar 111780 chart.

As for how we userepparttar 111781 Bollinger Band theory, here are a couple of guidelines.

History shows that a stock usually doesn't stay in a narrow trading range for long, as can be gauged usingrepparttar 111782 Bollinger Bands. Strategies include relatingrepparttar 111783 width withrepparttar 111784 length ofrepparttar 111785 bands. The narrowerrepparttar 111786 bands,repparttar 111787 shorterrepparttar 111788 time it will last. Therefore, when a stock starts to trade within narrow Bollinger Bands, we know that there will be a substantial price fluctuation inrepparttar 111789 near future. However, we do not know which directionrepparttar 111790 stock will move, hencerepparttar 111791 need to use Bollinger Bands strategies together with other technical indicators.

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