Almost everyone who has been in a financial crisis has gotten the dreaded phone call from a debt collection company. But at times, one phone call turns into ten, and even worse, a debt collector may be aggressive and borderline threatening on the phone.

While it may be true that collections agents are trying to collect a legitimate debt, more and more negative attention is being focused on unfair and aggressive policies that some companies have been using. Some of the more aggressive practices caught the eyes of James Caldwell, Louisiana attorney general and Washington attorney general Ron McKenna who have both promised to make accounts receivable management firms and their owners clean up after their acts.

In fact, Caldwell has already obtained injunctions on January 8th against two collection agencies that were not complying with the standards that have been set for obtaining debt. On the same day McKenna attested that his office had just come to an agreement with a collection agency that agreed to comply with new protocol that have been established.

A few of the new boundaries that these collection agencies must comply with include more effective communication. This means that any harassment, intimidation, threats, profanity, or attempts to embarrass the debtor are now very illegal. With these new settlements, these collection agencies under the microscope will no longer be able to intimidate debtors through implications such as failing to pay a debt will result in a suspension of the debtor's driver's license.

Finally, although these collection businesses are lawfully able to report debts to credit reporting agencies, they are no longer permitted to threaten debtors by lowering their credit rating. Even though collections businesses are really trying to collect a legitimate debt, there are two issues to remember. People who owe money are just that, people, who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. More importantly, if a debtor is scared of an aggressive collections agent who calls them constantly they very well just stop picking up the calls, leaving themselves in debt, and the collection agencies with nothing.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection company. She also writes stories on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory