Are you sick of having your phone ring nonstop and you picking it up to find yet another bill collector on the other end demanding payment for debts you can’t afford to pay off? Have you reached the point where you feel like you need a second job to pay all of your bills? Okay, buddy, it’s time to get serious (or maybe ridiculous) about dealing with those nasty bill collectors.
Here’s how to get bill collectors to stop calling.
In this article
Know What You Owe
Know how much you owe and how much you can afford to put toward debt repayment each month as a first step toward financial freedom. While the task at hand may appear onerous, rest assured that we will be able to turn it into a joyful experience. Get out some paper and a pen, or fire up your preferred spreadsheet application. The next step is to take a deep breath and catalog your debts. Even those pesky student loans you’ve been saddled with since graduation.
Dealing With Your Debt
Now that you know exactly how much money you owe, you can go on to the next step: figuring out how to stop those annoying bill collectors from calling you. We offer a variety of suggestions, some of which are more viable than others. You might pretend you don’t know English by answering the phone with a foreign accent. If you want, you can always inform them that aliens have kidnapped you and try again in a few days. I mean, why not give it a go?
There are alternatives if you are having trouble paying your bills on time. You could seek advice from a financial expert or credit counselor. They can help you figure out how to pay off your bills and get your finances back on track.
It’s important to note, there’s no way around paying at least a portion of what you owe, Debt settlement, debt negotiation, debt consolidation and filing for bankruptcy protection are all proven methods of dealing with outsized debt.
Here’s What NOT to Do
Here’s a short tale about a man named Tom, whose credit card payments had fallen behind. Tired of the frequent harassment from the debt collectors, he decided to play around with them one day.
Tom answered the phone to the debt collector with a false British accent, pretending to be his own butler. Mr. Tom, he informed the collector, would be out of town for a while. Even though the collector didn’t believe him, Tom kept up appearances by saying things like, “I’m truly sorry, sir, but Mr. Tom is simply overloaded with business at the moment.”
After a while, the debt collector hung up the phone, but Tom wasn’t through. He redialed the collector but pretended to be someone else entirely, this time using a new accent. He said that he used to live next door to Tom, but that Tom had relocated to Australia. The collector was at this time completely befuddled and hung up.
Tom persisted in his absurd antics with the debt collector for a good few weeks, during which he adopted a variety of accents and personas. At a certain point in time, the collector stopped calling altogether, either because he recognized he was being fooled or because he had given up.
Tom paid off his obligations and learned his lesson, but he’ll never forget the pleasure he had at the expense of a debt collector.
And no, we do not suggest you emulate Tom.
In Conclusion
Finally, assessing your financial situation need not be a tedious or difficult chore. You may take charge of your financial position and make the debt collectors stop calling with a sense of humor and a strong will. Get out your notebook and pencil, because we’re about to get started.
