You’ve been having trouble paying your bills lately and you’re starting to get calls and letters from something called MRS Associates. As you may suspect, that’s a collections agency. But don’t panic. Even if the debts are legit, there are steps you can take when dealing with people who intend to get you to pay up.
Here’s what to do when you’re contacted by MRS Associates.
What is MRS Associates?
As we say, MRS Associates is a debt collections agency, and a rather persistent and assertive one at that. Debtor complaints abound, particularly about the number of daily phone calls it often makes to debtors. The agency’s aim is to collect funds owed to their clients, which could be a bank. It also sometimes buys debts from the original lender.
Do You Know What’s in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
You should. The FDCPA was put in place to save debtors from the some of the very acts regularly performed by MRS Associates. Check out MRS Associates reviews – you’ll see. So, you absolutely should complain if the company’s business measures are at any time whack. You may even want to cite the FDCPA; that should help keep them in line.
The fact is that debt collectors cannot phone you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. They also are prohibited from threatening, harassing or verbally abusing you. The Act bars these companies from hounding you throughout the day, discussing your matter with others or calling you on your job if you’ve asked them not to.
How to Handle MRS Associates
Since the company frequently flouts the FDCPA, you must steadfastly look out for yourself. Did you know that your credit report will show that MRS Associates has been commissioned to collect from you? Well, it will. The good news is that you have ways to get such notice removed:
- Fix the situation yourself using one of the many guides out there that instruct you how to get items deleted from your credit report, including judgments, charge-offs, collections and more.
- Establish a paper trail. You really want to keep good notes and records about every encounter with MRS Associates. If you speak with a representative over the phone, make sure you get their name, job title, how many times they called you, the number they were phoning from, the length of the discussion and the times of day the calls came through. Also keep any correspondences from the agency, be they letters, texts or emails.
- Get the debt validated. Sometimes, collectors have the wrong person, or the statute of limitation has run out on the debt, in which case they can no longer try to force you to pay. So, you should write a letter to MRS Associates Debt Collection asking them to validate the debt on which they’re attempting to collect. If it turns out that the debt is not valid, MRS Associates must stop bothering you. Just make sure the letter is sent through certified mail. Act fast, though, because you only have between 20 and 30 days, depending on your state, to seek validation.
Now you know what to do when you’re contacted by MRS Associates, right? If you owe a debt, fine. You should, of course, try to repay it. But you don’t have to take any and everything debt collectors such as MRS Associates dish out. You have rights, and you can put them on their heels just like they do you.
Knowledge is power.
