3. Collection Agencies are Powerless

If you've ever spoken to a collection agent on the phone, you know they will blow your mind.  You will hang up the phone and want to cry.  Maybe you will cry.  They will rip off your head and vomit into your soul.  They'll humiliate you, threaten you, belittle you, and even resort to actual childish name calling.  They use advanced physiological tactics to make you pay them.  Their goal is to break you down to the point that you feel embarrassed, powerless, and afraid, actually convincing you that you are scum and they are your righteous disciplinarian.  These soulless parasites do this because they know something you don't.  They have no real power.  Like an abusive husband, they don't want you to know that they have no enforcement power at all. 

Here's what they can do:

1.  Call you.  As you know.  They cannot harass you.  The biggest mistake when you speak to a collection agent on the phone is to tell them you will pay.  If you do, they will call you and demand payment because you have promised to pay them, yet have not.  This is not harassment, because they are following up on your promise.  For information on how to deal with with these phone calls quickly and effectively, see "Dealing with Collection Agencies"
2.  Lie to you.  They're actually not allowed to do this, but they do all the time.  I've had collection agents tell me that bankruptcy isn't an option anymore because "if it was, everyone would just do that."  Which is a blatant bald-faced lie.  These bastards will lie, and cheat and call you names and do anything to get their commission.

Here's what they CAN'T do:

1.  Garnish your Wages:  They need to sue you, which they will not do.
2.  Put a lien on your house:  Again, they need a court judgment for this, which they will not get.
3.  Call your boss, family or friends:  They cannot do this unless they do not have contact information for you, in which case they are not allowed to disclose why they are calling, and can only ask, one time, for your contact information. 
4.  Force you into bankruptcy.   They would need to win a lawsuit, and not only do they NEVER sue, a court NEVER drives a person to bankruptcy.
5.  Anything.  Literally, all they can do is call you, and if you play your cards right, you'll be done with their phone calls after the first one. 

Collection Agencies DO NOT SUE, EVER.  Because they never win and history taught them that after spending thousands of dollars on a lawsuit, they either don't win, or if they do the person declares bankruptcy and they don't get anything anyway.   No one sues, ever, anymore.  I've seen $50,000 and $75,000 credit card debts written off.  How much do you owe?  If it's less than that, you're in no danger.  And without a judgement, they can't do anything.