Can a debt collector speak with me about my hubby's credit card debt?

Question

I live in mississippi and the collector said he could legally speak to me about it, my hubby has not authorized this. The thing is i am not on the account and he is telling me when the last time my hubby made a payment, and how much is past due. He told me our credit will suffer (i am not on the account) He constantly calls and tries to get me to pay the debt or tell him i will give him such and such amount by the end of the month. Will someone who knows mississippi law please help me?

to the person who asked why dont i just pay it off , ummm b/c i have other bills to pay we have fell on hard times and i think that paying my mortgage and power and putting food in my kids mouth is more important. We are trying to settle with him but he is harassing me and i dont control our finances

I am not asking how to get out of debt, that is all the debt we owe everything else is current

Answer 1

If a credit card collector is talking....eg....his lips are moving....he's lying. They violate federal law every day, and do it because the public is ignorant of their rights. Have them speak to your husband only, negotiate in writing a settlement (prob 30-40%) of the balance, get it in writing, then send them certified funds. Do not accept any agreement that is not in writing, and do not ever give them access to your checking account...they will clean you out.

Answer 2

I am a Bank of America 3rd party debt collector so let me clear this up. The longest any collector will leave you alone without you being on a payment plan, is one month. They have no obligation to do so however so don't take that as a guideline by any means. The way this works, is that if they don't have you on SOME kind of payments greater than 1 or 2 percent of the balance, then your account gets pulled from their office, restatused as an older account, and sent to a different agency. This means they will lose out on potential money which no business wants. So what YOU need to do is this: answer the phone. When they call, you answer the phone, have a brief conversation, and tell them when you want them to check in on you again. And yes you need to verify, saying your month and day of birth won't kill you. Anyways, telling them when to call back is the key there, don't let them decide when to call you, you tell them what date and what time to call. Then all you have to do is answer the phone when they call at that time and if your situation is unchanged you do it again. If they ignore your request and call again you can threaten a CFPB Harassment complaint or to speak to their manager. If they pull that stunt again they would without a doubt be harassing you which is illegal. If you miss their call they have every right to start calling you according to the normal routine. Which generally speaking is roughly once a day for the first two months you are with them, and then a couple times a week after that. They can if they choose to call up to 3 times a day on the same phone number for the same debt so be aware. Now the easiest way to limit phone calls is to make nominal payments towards the account until you are in a better position. Calculate what 2 or 1% of the balance will be and that's the absolute lowest they will accept (currently not a true statement, most can go lower, but Bank of America is going to be implementing a policy where payments lower than 1 or 2% are considered as violating the CFPB/FDCPA. Not in stone yet but it more than likely will be happening). Also since I'm already going on about this, there is no minimum settlement amount, it is entirely based on your situation. Anything lower than what they can approve will just need to be approved by BofA. Settling is always going to hurt your credit. If you can pay the full balance within 24 months you should always do so. The only times you wouldn't is if: you need to resolve the balance quickly (like if you needed to get a loan approved) and/or if it would take you longer than 24 months. In that case take the hit and build it back up sooner rather than later.

Answer 3

OC is correct, the collector does have a legal right to speak to you about the debt.

Your state is not a community property state. If any legal action is taken, they cannot place a lien on anything that is in your name.

The collecting SOL for your state is 3 years. If it has been 3 years or longer since your husband defaulted, he has a legal right to not pay.

***However, should he make a promise to pay, the collecting SOL may be re-set.****

Mississippi statutes --

§ 15-1-29. Limitations applicable to actions on accounts and unwritten contracts.

Except as otherwise provided in the Uniform Commercial Code, actions on an open account or account stated not acknowledged in writing, signed by the debtor, and on any unwritten contract, express or implied, shall be commenced within three (3) years next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after, except that an action based on an unwritten contract of employment shall be commenced within one (1) year next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after.

SEC. 15-1-3. Completion of limitation extinguishes right. The completion of the period of limitation prescribed to bar any action, shall defeat and extinguish the right as well as the remedy. However, the former legal obligation shall be a sufficient consideration to uphold a new promise based thereon.
SOURCES: Codes, 1880, Sec. 2685; 1892, Sec. 2755; 1906, Sec. 3115; Hemingway's 1917, Sec. 2479; 1930, Sec. 2313; 1942, Sec. 743.

IF he is past the collecting SOL it would be in his best interest to send a SOL letter to the collector and inform them the debt is no longer legally collectible.

You might click on my profile and click on the last link I have listed. Do some reading and learn how to deal with the collector.

Answer 4

Actually in this case I beleive that SCH is incorrect. The FDCPA does allow a creditor to speak to the Spouse in terms of the debt. The creditor is allowed to speak to the "consumer" about the debt.

Section 805(d) of the FDCPA states that the Consumer is defined as the Consumer's Spouse, parent(if the consumer is a minor), guardian, executor, or administrator

This is a Federal Law and am not aware if a law in MIssissippi would override this regulation.

Answer 5

I dont know, it depends on if you are a community property state or not. In Utah you couldnt do that. Some states that bills your husband owes can be attached to you or they can legally tell you what is going on. *not an attorney but have tried to collect many debts before*

All you have to do is tell them, never ever call me again. Legally after that the only way they can contact you is a final letter. They cant ever call you again. They can sue you but they cant call you. They will say well then we will send it to legal and blah blah blah. Say fine do it, but never call this number again its friday July 13th at 1:30. Mark it down never call me again.

Answer 6

Under the Fair Debt Collections Act they may speak to you to get information as to how to connect with him...but if you are not on the account it is a violation of the patriot act for them to disclose information about an account that is not in your name to you.

Answer 7

The debt collector should not be able to speak with you. However, if your husband has bad credit, so do you!! Better talk to your husband and figure out how you are going to get out of debt. If bill collectors are calling, you are in serious financial trouble.

Answer 8

yes he can try and collect it from you. but it will not effect your credit in any way - just hung up and dont talk to them or have your husband take care of the bill

Answer 9

Disclosing information to a third party, not connected with the account is a crime.
Have your husband sue the collection agency.

Answer 10

yes he can talk with you about it since they consider it combined debt , since they cant tell if you have also used the card or not to make any purchases , it will effect your credit since you are tied to your husband financially
it doesnt matter if your name is on the acct. or not

B.