Stop Debt Collectors [Paperback]

Gerri Detweiler (Author), Mary Reed (Author), John Ventura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2008

Record numbers of people are falling behind on their financial obligations and their debts are being sent to collections. If you're one of them, you know that being contacted by debt collectors can be stressful, especially if they are harassing you, threatening you, and/or using abusive language. However, the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) gives you legal rights when it comes to debt collectors. Stop Debt Collectors: How to protect your rights and resolve your debts tells you how to exercise those rights in order to solve your debt collector problems. It gives you all of the practical advice and information you need to resolve your debt and fight back against unfair debt collection tactics.

Stop Debt Collectors is published by Credit.com, one of the Web's leading sources for reliable consumer credit information, and written by three credit and debt experts. They are Gerri Detweiler, a national expert on consumer credit and debt; Mary Reed, a personal finance writer; and nationally-known consumer law attorney, John Ventura.

Among other things, Stop Debt Collectors explains:

• The very first thing you should do when a debt collector contacts you.
• Your options when a debt collector wants you to pay a past due debt.
• What debt collectors can really do to collect the money that you owe.
• Common high-pressure tactics collectors use and how to respond to them.
• How and when to hire an attorney to help you deal with a debt collector.
• Why debt collectors are lying when they say they can ruin your credit "forever", or that paying a debt will automatically improve your credit scores.
• Four tactics for removing collection accounts from your credit reports.

The book also tells you:

• Why you should never give a debt collector a post-dated check.
• The most dangerous way to pay a debt collector.
• How to manage your past due medical debts.
• What to do if you're worried about losing your home in a foreclosure.
• How to avoid having your car repossessed.

Step Debt Collectors features an appendix that is chock full of helpful tools and resources. They include sample letters to write, a worksheet, links to information about state debt collection laws, and a bonus CD. The 80-minute audio CD features Gerri Detweiler and John Ventura discussing many of the key topics in the book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This dream team of debt experts can help you effectively deal with collection agencies. They'll teach you how to fight back against unethical collection attempts and preserve your rights. Any consumer who's being hounded by collectors or who has discovered an erroneous collection account on a credit report would profit from buying this book. --Liz Weston, the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet (Nielsen/NetRatings)

This is the most practical, concise book I've seen on how to deal with debt collectors, who can be quite ruthless. The experts who wrote this book are nationally recognized consumer advocates who genuinely care about the plights of consumers trying to get back on their feet. Bottom line, this is a great publication that any consumer who is being contacted by debt collectors should have! --Curtis Arnold, Consumer advocate & founder of CardRatings.com

Whenever anyone asks me about how to handle debt collectors, I tell them to get Stop Debt Collectors. It's the most complete and easy-to-use guide on how to handle debt collectors that I've ever seen. And most importantly this advice works! --Scott Bilker, Creator of DebtSmart.com and author Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt

About the Author

Gerri Detweiler is one of the country's top credit specialists and Credit Advisor for Credit.com. She is also the author of The Ultimate Credit Handbook, which Money Magazine named one of the top five personal finance books of the year, and the co-author of Invest In Yourself: Six Secrets to a Rich Life and Slash Your Debt, Save Money & Secure Your Future.

Gerri has been done thousands of radio, television, and print interviews, including interviews with USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dateline NBC, The Today Show and the Fox Business Channel. In addition, she has testified before Congress several times about consumer credit matters, worked to reform the national credit reporting laws and served as executive director of the non-profit consumer advocacy group Bankcard Holders of America and as policy director of The National Council of Individual Investors.

Mary Reed is a personal finance writer who writes about consumer money and legal issues in her own name, and also ghost writes books and magazine articles on those topics for clients. To date, she has co-authored three books Managing Debt for Dummies, Divorce for Dummies and The Everyday Law Kit For Dummies and she has ghostwritten 15 more. Mary has also written for Good Housekeeping, Home Office Computing Magazine, and Small Business Computing Magazine, The Wall Street Journal s National Business and Employment Weekly, and for Hispanic Business. In addition, she owns MR PR, a public relations firm that specializes in personal finance and small business PR.

John Ventura is a nationally-known bankruptcy and consumer law attorney. He s also the Director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center at the University of Houston Law School and an Associate Professor there. John is the author of 16 books, including Managing Debt for Dummies, The Bankruptcy Handbook, The Credit Repair Handbook and The Estate Planning Handbook.

John has been a guest on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg Television & Radio, the Fox News Channel, American Public Radio, National Public Radio, and Business News Network and on numerous local radio and television programs as well. He has also been mentioned or quoted about consumer money matters in national and local magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Money Magazine, Kiplinger s Finance Magazine, and many more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Credit.com (August 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1424335116
• ISBN-13: 978-1424335114
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,977,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)