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‘Dishonest, dirty debt collectors need to be exposed,’ consumer expert says

Complaints to the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about harassing calls from medical debt collectors are up.

In Clark Howard's Consumer Action Center it is also a common complaint call.

Debt collectors are becoming more and more aggressive, even using illegal tactics to try to get people pay debt. In some cases, it was a debt they didn't even owe.

Nearly two-thirds of the 17,700 medical debt-collection complaints in a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau database were filed by people who didn’t owe the debt, because it either wasn’t theirs, had already been paid, or had been discharged through bankruptcy.

Clark Howard says if you are getting repeated calls and are being threatened, you should record the call.

"The abusive, dishonest, dirty collectors need to be exposed," says Howard.

He says never allow a debt collector to intimidate you into paying a debt you do not owe.

Under the law, even if you do have a debt, you also have the right to send what’s called a drop dead letter. This letter will prevent the collector from contacting you again about a debt.

Collectors cannot call at work once you say they cannot.

Report harassing debt collectors to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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