Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Massachusetts
Right of the Collector
Recently I received a phone call from a collection agency about money I owed. During the phone call they asked me how much money I made at my place of business, such as how much a week and how much I was paid per hour. My question is, do they have the right to ask this question and do I have the right to not answer this questions?
Thank-you
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Right of the Collector
They do have the "right" to ask and you have the "right"
to ignore or not answer their question.
In general, anyone may ask anyone else anything they want
to ask. You may be thinking that if an employer asks you if you're (say) Jewish,
it invites religious discrimination charges later, so it's not
a good idea to ask! There's nothing wrong with asking a question.
If you want to be cooperative with the collection people, you might
want to answer their question. ( I advise answering if you earn very
little money! It makes them realize that it's not worth pursuing you as
hard. If you can easily afford to pay them money regularly, I advise you
not to tell them how much you make, etc., but you might want to work out
a payment schedule with them; try to get it so that there's no interest
and late fees being piled on while you pay them or even if you miss an
individual payment occasionally.)
If you're in Mass., I could call them for you, too. What city or town are you in?
You're not the Stafford loan person being hounded by out-of-state
agencies, are you?
Good luck.
Stuart Williams
Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams
21 Walter St.
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