Posted on October 29, 2010 at 8:47 am As unfortunate as it may be there will always be large numbers of people who will at some point in their lives experience financial problems. In fact most people either have had, are having, or will have problems paying their bills at some point. Even more unfortunate is the fact that there are predators that help cause the problems to begin with, and many other predators that are in the form of unethical collection companies just waiting for their chance to gain as much as they can from the situation.   Once you find yourself in a situation where you can not meet the payment requirements on your bills, for what ever the reason - job loss, pay reduction etc., and you begin to get behind, you will begin receiving collection calls and letters. While there are some ethical companies that will work with you fairly and ethically, there are a great many more who absolutely do not care about you, your family or your life one tiny bit - and they will do every thing they can to intimidate, bully and harass you into paying them as much as they can get from you if they can. They dont care whether you have a roof over your head, power or food for your family. In fact nothing would make them happier than for you not to pay your house payment or rent, and not to pay your utility bills to keep the power and water on, but to use that money to pay them with instead, even if doing so would literally put you and yours out in the cold and on the street. These people are predators and they are the scum of the earth, and so are those who use them, or work with and for them. So how do you deal with these predators on the phone? You dont. Send them a certified letter telling them to only contact you by mail only and do not call again. If you have voice mail, and you should if you have a phone, never answer the phone - let it go to voice mail. If it is someone you wish to speak with they will leave a message, and you can call them back. If you have caller id and you know who is calling you, that good also. Keep a phone log of all incoming numbers. If you have already sent a letter telling a company to stop calling - and they continue to do so, send them another certified letter telling them that you are logging and keeping record of everytime they call after they have already been advised not to, and again telling them to cease and desist from calling you. You have rights that are there to protect you, but you have to know your rights, and protect yourself. If you do attempt to play their game by their rules, you lose. The best way to win is not to play their game to begin with.