Mark and Susan are heads of a typical American family. Three children, two cars and a mortgage require thoughtful budgeting of their two incomes in order to live "comfortably." Last September, Susan lost her job resulting in an immediate 40% drop in household income. Shortly afterward their oldest son, Jason, was seriously injured in an automobile accident. Compounding this tragic loss is the $8,000 in related medical expenses added to a list of bills already 60-90 days delinquent. Unfortunately, the Petersons found no mercy in a system that measures success only in terms of results and looks only at the bottom line. The Petersons were on their own to work out of this terrible situation and the thing they needed more than anything else was knowledge. They needed to know their options. They needed to know the laws that have been enacted to protect them from harassing creditors. The same information that eventually empowered the Petersons to take some resemblance of control of their situation may also help you today or at some point in your future.

If you haven't had the unfortunate experience of falling seriously behind on your monthly commitments, if you haven't found yourself to be occasionally over billed for products or services, if you have never felt as though you were mistreated by a creditor, then you are in the minority, so far.

This resource is all about law. The reality is few people begin to drool with anticipation when they find out that they are going to read a law book. Let's face it. Plucking eyebrows may rate higher on the preference list than reading law.

But, when you find yourself in a situation where you need to know—must know—the facts—your rights—a reference such as this will prove itself to be invaluable in the returns that it will provide. Reading and learning for yourself what laws were enacted to protect your rights will bring you peace of mind; it will give you confidence to take action with surety. At the same time, one who remains ignorant of his rights is no better off than he who has no rights.

You will find yourself referring to this reference again and again as those occasional situations arise where, in the past, you knew you weren't treated fairly but lacked knowledge of the facts to take any meaningful action. You'll see numerous opportunities where friends and relatives could benefit from your knowledge gained here, also. And as further encouragement, you will also find that, other than the occasional paragraph, most of the law text reads pretty straight forward.

If read in a quiet relaxed atmosphere, without interruption, you will find comprehension to be surprisingly high. To further assist you with understanding and planning, you will find explanations of critical subjects in everyday language throughout the text.

Virtually everyone, regardless of name, occupation, or surprisingly even income is bound to experience encounters of the 'harassing kind' at least once in a lifetime. If it's not part of maturing as a young adult, it's part of a divorce. If it's not part of a dream gone bad, it's the result of an illness, hurricane or business failure. Financial hardship comes with many faces, but it stems from two primary sources. It can be the result of mismanaged credit and not integrating sound principles into one's financial planing, or it can result from a personal calamity. The bottom line is that financial hardship is not a respecter of persons or positions. A couple earning $80,000 a year can actually be just as vulnerable as a single parent earning $25,000 a year. Unexpected, and often undeserved, circumstances can leave both vulnerable to the harassment of collection agencies.

Before trashing the collection industry, it is important to note that the debt collection business is very much needed in a free enterprise system. You could call it a necessary evil if you like. Without it we would all be paying much higher prices for everything we buy as businesses tried to recoup their losses from all the "deadbeats" who didn't pay. The debt collectors are the deterrent to see that "deadbeats" do pay their bills. And there are a lot of them out there, as anyone who accepts checks or extends credit can attest. The "Gripe" with the system is that it has no way to distinguish a "deadbeat" from an upstanding individual who has just had an unfortunate turn of events and is eager to rectify the situation. Thus, everyone gets thrown into the same pile; everyone gets treated as a "deadbeat."

Add to this the fact that most third-party bill collectors get paid a percentage of everything they collect and you have a formula for real abuse. The lure of big profits in the debt collection industry has attracted a few unethical agents. There are more than a handful of bill collectors that will go to any length to collect a debt and earn their commission. They make their living skillfully applying the techniques of deception and fear tactics to those who are often most vulnerable emotionally and least prepared knowledge wise . Fortunately the U.S. Congress has passed laws to limit the tactics bill collectors can use to extract money from a debtor.

If you are currently experiencing the discomfort of threatening phone calls and letters, or if you ever do in the future, you can take comfort in the knowledge that you have the authority to put an immediate end to such harassment. Every citizen has this authority. The problem is that most don't know it, and as a result they are having their emotions "played like a string" by unscrupulous seasoned debt collectors.