If you have an uncollected judgment against you from a previous foreclosure, credit card, car loan, personal loan, or similar situation, then whichever united credit Recovery Bureau(UCRB) owns the debt can try to collect. Determining that they own the debt and have the right to collect it from you is quite a bit more difficult than it would appear. But of course, this problem does little to prevent collection agencies from calling all day.
The best you can try and do is tell them not to call you anymore. They will have to abide by your demand not to be called, as that is a federal law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states that any communication with a debtor made after the collection agency has been told not to send further communication will be a violation of the Act.
You can also try and have the judgment vacated (or reversed, voided) through the original court. If you were never served with the lawsuit paperwork, then you may have a defense. If the plaintiff violated laws to get the judgment against you, you may have another defense. If the collection agency keeps contacting you after you tell them not to, you may have even another defense.
Of course, depending on the court, the judge, and the collection agency’s attorneys, this may go nowhere and you will just be shot down and the motion to vacate denied. But it costs almost nothing to file the motion and you might get lucky and have the judgment voided immediately. Tactics such as these will also show the collection agency that you are serious about defending the debt and it may cost them more to pursue you than they can ever hope to collect.
If you have a judgment against you or just a lot of debts in collections, you should start by researching your options to settle debt, validate debt, and have the judgment vacated. Applicable federal laws are the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Look them up, read some plain-English explanations for them, and see what your options are. These laws may also be used as defenses in an effort to stop foreclosure, depending on the circumstances of the case.
But to begin with you can tell the collection agency right away that you do not want to receive calls from them all day anymore. The company will have to stop calling you, or run the risk of being sued themselves. And they would not want you filing complaints with the state attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for harassment, would they?
Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to take a foreclosure, credit card judgment, medical bills, other collection attempts, harassing phone calls, and an illegitimate debt lying down. Defend them, make the creditor prove that it owns that debt and is owed that debt, and make it as huge a problem for them to deal with you as you are having dealing with them. When collection agencies know that it will cost them more to go after you than they can hope to receive, they may be willing to settle with you or give up.
