My colleague, Boston bankruptcy attorney Nick Ortiz, has written a helpful post on his Massachusetts Bankruptcy and Consumer Protection blog summarizing your right to refuse to speak with a debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If you have ever been the target of aggressive collection efforts, you know that bill collectors use applied psychology to intimidate the debtor. If you did not yet know this, bill collectors follow a script that was developed by psychologists to trigger certain emotional responses in you. For example the word “promise” is much more emotionally charged than words like “debt,” “outstanding balance” or “financial obligation.”
Debt collection scripts are also designed to suggest that your failure to pay a debt will result in a form of “punishment,” which could lead a stressed out debtor that he could end up in jail (despite the fact that there have never been debtor’s prisons in the United States not been federal debtor’s prisons in the United States since 1833 or state debtor’s prisons shortly thereafter).
In my bankruptcy practice, I encourage my clients to make thoughtful, informed decisions about whether to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Recognizing the tactics used by bill collectors can help a debtor avoid emotional decisions, or, worse, bad decisions. I cannot tell you how many times I have met with clients who partially or totally cashed out a 401(k) to pay a credit card or other unsecured debt. In Georgia, 401(k) accounts are 100% sheltered from creditors, so any encroachment one of these protected accounts is usually a bad idea.
If you want to learn more about the psychology of influence, I can recommend the work of noted psychologist Robert Cialdini. I saw Dr. Cialdini speak a few years ago at a tax problem seminar and his work is truly groundbreaking. His book, entitled “Influence: Science & Practice” is available at Amazon and I recommend it highly no matter what you do for a living. You can read more about Dr. Cialdini at his InsideInfluence.com web site.