Overview

This year, America’s enormous, poorly regulated debt collection industry will make more than 1,000,000,000 collection calls. They will threaten. They will lie and mislead. They will intimidate. Over the past five years, they’ve racked up more than 300,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission: more than any other industry regulated by the FTC. Financial reporter Fred Williams knows more about the industry than anyone else. Not only has investigated America’s debt collection agencies, he spent three months working for one of the largest firms in the business. In Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices Williams reveals what he learned and shows you exactly how to fight back and protect your rights. Williams weaves indispensable practical advice together with stories straight from his collection agency cubicle. You’ll learn what to do first if a collector calls; what collectors can and can’t do; which debts you are and aren’t responsible for; how collectors choose accounts to focus on; how to stop harassing or abusive calls; how to keep the advantage in a negotiation for a lucrative debt settlement; even how to take the offensive with a lawsuit that can halt collection and win yourself a $1,000 penalty!

Full Product Details

Author:   Fred Williams
Publisher:   Pearson Education (US)
Imprint:   Addison Wesley
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.320kg
ISBN:  

9780137058303

ISBN 10:   0137058306
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   09 September 2010
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

Table of Contents

Introduction     1 Part 1:  Debt Collection Secrets     9 Chapter 1:  Lessons in Deception     11 Chapter 2:  Credit Is King     23 Chapter 3:  Anger Can Be Power     31 Chapter 4:  Closeout: “No Tomorrow”      41 Chapter 5:  The Shakedown Industry     47 Chapter 6:  PIF Means Payment in Full     61 Chapter 7:  Payday, the Tables Turn     69 Chapter 8:  Debtors’ Rebellion     73 Chapter 9:  Debt for Sale     83 Chapter 10:  The Golden Rule: Money Today     89 Chapter 11:  Strengths and Weaknesses     93 Chapter 12:  Collector of the Week     103 Chapter 13:  Retention     111 Chapter 14:  A Complaint     115 Chapter 15:  Data Minefield     121 Chapter 16:  Graduation Day     127 Chapter 17:  On the Floor     133 Chapter 18:  NLE Means No Longer Employed     145 Chapter 19:  Solutions     157 Part 2:  Coping With Collections     161 Chapter 20:  Stopping Collection Calls     163 Chapter 21:  Checking Out a Collector     167 Chapter 22:  Using Collection Law     171 Chapter 23:  Reading Your Credit Reports     177 Chapter 24:  Preparing a Complaint     183 Chapter 25:  Negotiating a Debt Settlement     189 Endnotes     195 Index     201

Reviews

Named one of Library Journal's Best Business Books of 2010.

 

Author Information

A business journalist for most of the past 24 years, Fred Williams has written about debt collection for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and for The Buffalo (N.Y.) News, where he started covering the industry in 1999. He undertook a six-month research project on the industry in 2006, supported by the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at The Ohio State University.   In 2008, he worked as a debt collector for 11 weeks at a collection agency near Buffalo.   Fred graduated from Binghamton University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is careful to pay his entire credit card balance each month.

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