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Newspaper Columnist's Experience with a Debt Collector

A couple weeks ago, Steve Rosen, columnist with the Kansas City Star, wrote about his most recent experience with debt collectors. Apparently Mr. Rosen's name is similar to that of another person who is in debt to numerous companies.

A collector somehow found out Mr. Rosen's son's cellphone number and called the son, trying to find the whereabouts of the father. Mr. Rosen was not happy. He called the collection company the next day and advised that they had the wrong guy.

This is what collectors do. They are relentless and are paid to be relentless and will use public and maybe not-so-public records to contact anyone associated with you. But what they can do, and when they can do it, are regulated by laws such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. And if they break those laws, you might be able to sue them, get $1,000 in compensation, and have your attorneys' fees paid.

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