I hope someone can help me understand my rights.

[JoAnnEyring]

I have recently fell to some bad luck in losing two jobs within one year and am now on unemployment to help get back on my feet.

I have paid a small amount of my monthly payment to one credit card company, and am in the process of sending another small payment to them.

Over the past three days, and in particular today, Sunday, February 17, 2008, this credit card collection division has been calling my home every two hours. The call starts with a message that states that all of our agents are busy, please hold for the next available person - but do not identify who they are.

Then, three people speak such broken English and speak so softly, you can bearly hear them. I did speak to one man and told him I would go online and make a payment that evening. That was not good enough for him. I politely repeated what I said two more times and then told him I am ending the call.

Well, I cannot make the payment online so I wrote a check and am mailing it in the morning. The company probably won't receive the payment and put it in their computers until next week.

This long story has been made so that I can help you understand that I am trying to pay my debt, but feel harassed by phone calls every two hours. What is the law? Do I have any rights to not receive a phone call every two hours on a Sunday? The calls start at 8 AM. The last one was received at 8:30 PM.

I hope someone can help me understand my rights.

JoAnn Eyring

I have also signed up for credit protection and am waiting a few more weeks to start it. I started it on one other credit card, was told that the case is being processed.

[Credit Expert]

The law is very clear as to what is considered harassment, the problem is the amount of work you dedicate to trying to prove it to a court. The FTC regulates the debt collection industry with many laws including the “FDCPA” and here is some information about it: http://www.expert-credit-advice.com/deb ... n_laws.htm . Debt collectors are allowed to call you to ask for a payment, but repeated calling and other harassment is illegal and you do have rights. If you are truly being harassed, you should file a complaint with the FTC (web http://www.ftc.gov or phone (877) FTC-HELP) and your state attorney general and/or possibly pursue litigation if warranted.

I am usually pretty good at reading between the lines and you mentioned you are enrolling with credit protection. Credit protection is a credit card insurance program which pays the minimum payment for a short time if you are disabled and pays your balance if you die. Unfortunately this is one of the biggest scams in the credit industry and rarely helps anyone. It sounds as if you foresee that you will not be able to make payments in the near future. If this is correct, you should look at all of your options to get out of debt. Here is a good source of info: http://www.expert-credit-advice.com/opt ... e_debt.htm . Really, the best way to ensure you are not bothered by debt collectors is to make sure you pay bills on time or even early if possible. Once your account is considered delinquent, loss prevention steps in and if often ruthless. In understand your situation and frankly, my very best piece of personal advice is to pay off your debt and stay out of debt.