Debt collectors force people to make costly mistakes.

Today, more than ever before, debt collectors aggressively pursue collections, regardless of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

• Some debt collectors will call you at work when you've told them not to.

• Some will call your neighbors to try to humiliate or intimidate you into paying.

• Some debt collectors, you need to hear, will call your neighbors and family in a brazen attempt to humiliate or scare you into paying what they demand.

If not bad enough, more and more debt collectors are trying to squeeze money out of people who already have paid the debt (out of fear or pressure) or who have nothing to do with the debt. Debt collectors know most people nothing about their rights.

That's why they harass, intimidate & lie. If you choose to pay off a debt collector, here's what you need to know: paying off a debt collector will not improve your credit scores!

Let me repeat what I just said in case what I just mentioned made no sense to you: paying off a debt collector will not improve your credit scores!

In fact, paying off a debt probably will DROP your scores even more.

In fact, a debt collector might be hassling you to pay off a debt that isn't yours or a debt on which you no longer legally need to pay.

It's one thing to pay a debt you know is yours...to pay a debt accurately reported...to pay a debt that improves your credit for doing right.

Unfortunately, you will pay a debt & watch in horror as your credit scores DROP.

Doesn't make sense, does it? Here's what happens:

1. Debt collectors only care about the money! They do not care that it's not your debt or that you paid it off.

2. Debt collectors are paid commission on how much they collect from you.

3. (Some) debt collectors will break the law to collect money.

4. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects us from debt collection abuses...if we know our rights.

5. Debt collectors will try to collect on debts that are not yours or that are outside statute of limitations. You absolutely must know your rights if you want to keep debt collectors from knocking down your front door, trying to humiliate you in front of your neighbors or ruining yet another dinner with your family. Think carefully before you hand even one penny to a debt collector. You might think it's easier just to pay them off and make them go away. I'm sorry to say it doesn't work that way.

6. You can pay off a debt & end up with yet another debt collector harassing you for the same debt.

7. You can pay off a debt & end up with lower credit scores from paying off a debt.

8. You can pay off a debt that isn't yours this happens all the time.

9. You can pay off a debt that is outside Statute of Limitations, and I'm not talking about the 7-year statute of limitations. In most states, the limit on collecting debt is 4 years.

Repair credit fast pitches and scams neglect strategy for dealing with debt collectors, paying off debt & facing the consequences. Credit repair companies fire off rounds and rounds of dispute letters with no explanation to customers when scores DROP. These same pitches and credit repair companies offer no strategy - just letter bombing. Once your scores drop, debt collectors sue you and/or your disputes get flagged as frivolous by credit reporting agencies, you are on your own, regardless of how much you're paying some credit DISrepair company.