Bill Consolidation Loans

While a Bill Consolidation Loan is convenient, it may not always be the most economical way to reduce the number of bills you receive. Here are two money-saving alternatives...
Borrow against your car – If you have equity in your car, you can borrow against that equity with a DCU Auto Loan. The rates are much lower because you're pledging your vehicle as collateral on the loans.
Borrow against your home – If you have equity in your home, you can borrow against that equity with a DCU Mortgage or Home Equity Loan. The rates are typically the lowest available because you're pledging your home as collateral on the loans.

Sure, you're behind on some bills, but nobody deserves to be treated like this.

Badgering phone calls and threats, insults and outright lies -- these are just a few of the unfair and illegal tactics that some debt collectors unleash on consumers. These rogue collectors don't represent the entire industry, but they are not uncommon.

Intimidation usually works
And that's exactly how a debt collector wants you to feel. They figure if they harass you enough, you'll pay up.

"The collection industry is sometimes so motivated to collect that they'll do anything and I mean anything to accomplish that," says Peter Barry, a consumer rights trial lawyer in St. Paul, Minn.

It doesn't matter that you don't have the money or that you have more important bills to pay first. It doesn't matter that you were sick or had an accident or lost your job.

"You're just an account number they need to get money out of," says Mary Fons, a consumer protection attorney in Stoughton, Wisc.

It may not even matter that it's not your bill.

"Many times the abuse continues anyway, even though it's not that person's bill," Fons says. "They just expect people are lying to them and that's how they treat people."

Not only is this kind of harassment rude and uncalled for, it's illegal.

Know the rules
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed in 1977 to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors. There's a whole list of rules third-party debt collectors must follow when collecting a debt.

Debt collection companies are in business to make a profit -- off you. The more they recoup for the company that hired them, the better. There are usually incentives (read bonuses) for the individuals who can squeeze blood out of the proverbial turnip, so they can get pretty ugly with debtors. Hammering you with phone calls, threats of litigation, abusive and profane language, character assassination, and outright lies, are just a few tricks in the debt collector's arsenal. Even though these practices are illegal, they are so common most people don't report the abuses.