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Guilt Stops Many from Eliminating Credit Card Debt

Every day more consumers fall behind on their credit card debt payments and leave themselves open to being threatened by credit card debt collectors. Some people simply cannot afford to pay their growing minimum-monthly credit-card debt payment(s). As a result they begin to feel hopeless and guilty.

A few on the other hand, however, realize if they get control of their guilty feelings about their credit card debt, they can begin to eliminate ther creit card debt.

The first step to overcoming that guilt, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide, is disputing and denying the debt any credit card debt collector, other then the original creditor, calls about.   Not admitting to an unsecured credit card debt and denying it is a legal strategy which can be compared to invoking the Fifth Amendment. It is not an indication of character.  All this means is that the other side will have to prove that they have a case against you.

A credit card debt collector is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to send a statement to the consumer with the debt saying that:

1. The debt collector can assume that the debt is valid if the consumer does not dispute the debt's validity.
2. In order to dispute the debt, the consumer must dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, by sending a letter to the debt collector.

According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a consumer can also write to the credit card debt collector saying that they want the debt collector to stop contacting them about the debt.

If a consumer follows this advice and refuses to admit to the credit card debt, by disputing it and denying it, and then writes to the credit card debt collector asking them to cease communications regarding the debt, that may cause the debt collector to decide to collect from other easier-to-deal-with consumers. For them to proceed with the task of recovering this debt, they will need to prove the debt exists by getting copies of original documents from the credit card company and sending them on to the consumer.

In the case of an unsigned and unsecured credit card debt, the credit card debt collector first has to get the consumer to admit their guilt and that they owe this debt. How this first debt collection communication from the debt collector is handled is important.  The debt collector is likely to move on to a consumer who requires less work, if they are faced with a denial, a dispute of the debt and instructions to cease communications.