Feed Collectors

Ratu Lewis asked:


A lot of sites have them, but you don’t know what they are. It is an intriguing little button right on the Web page, and it is full of mystery. Just what is an RSS feed?

Defining RSS

Many Web sites out there offer RSS feeds. You click, you receive - it’s just that simple. But just what are you getting into with that innocuous mouse button of yours? What in the world is an RSS feed in the first place?

Technically, RSS stands for Rich Site Summary and it only exists online. Imagine a Web site with a whole lot of content (text). Perhaps it’s a news site, or a very popular blog on the Internet. This site then takes that content and syndicates it. With the RSS feed, any user on the Internet can receive this syndicated content. It is sort of like buying a subscription to the newspaper. You order the paper and suddenly, it starts to appear on your doorstep. An RSS feed is the exact same thing - but the “newspaper” appears right on your computer.

Why Use an RSS Feed?

Okay, so why do you need an RSS feed when your email inbox is already full of junk mail? RSS feeds are not advertisements but actual content: news, information, blog posts and articles. The best thing about RSS feeds is that they’re not random. You have to subscribe or sign up in order to receive an RSS feed. Sometimes, the local paper may deliver free copies to try and get you interested in their service. RSS feeds will not do that - you won’t receive an unsolicited RSS feed, because in the majority of cases the service is always free.

When you have an RSS feed, you save yourself the time and trouble of searching the Internet for the information that’s pertinent to you. Suppose you get online every day to check major news headlines, entertainment information, etc. With an RSS feed, all you have to do is get on the computer and you don’t have to search out anything - the feed you subscribe to is already there, and available.

There is another factor when considering RSS feeds. In almost all cases, sites providing RSS feeds want you to use them as much as possible. It’s perfectly acceptable for you to put an RSS feed on your own Web site, thus getting daily content where your visitors can access it, too. You can stay up on business news, what’s happening on Wall Street, politics, whatever you own personal interests are, and you can make the same information available to your own Web traffic. This is why RSS feeds are so popular, and also why so many sites offer RSS feeds completely free of charge.

Offering an RSS Feed

Does your site have a lot of regularly-updated content? A popular blog or newsletter, perhaps? You might even consider offering an RSS feed to your own Web users. The RSS feed puts your Web site’s name out there in a bold way. The more subscribers who have to your feed, the more marketing you get. Those same subscribers might be sharing their feeds with others, who might share that feed you get the point. Word-of-mouth spreads about your site, your content becomes more popular, and suddenly business is improved. This is of course a good-case scenario, but in truth there aren’t too many negatives associated with offering an RSS feed.

If you’ve got content to provide, there’s no reason not to offer an RSS feed. In a worst-case scenario, no one will subscribe to the feed. It takes up very little space on the Web page, and if no one subscribes then your business will pretty much remain the same. If they do subscribe, it might improve, but it certainly won’t fail if the RSS feed fails to gain attention and acclaim.

Creating an RSS Feed

So, how do you go about putting the RSS feed on your own site? If you know how to write code, it is easily done when you edit a page on your Web site. There are online tutorials which can walk you through the process. If you’d rather leave it in the hands of a professional, talk to a Web designer about creating an RSS feed and finding the best way to market this service online. Web designers can help you take care of this and other details when it comes to creating an RSS feed on your own site.



Content

Davion W asked:


Why do people submit RSS feeds? Surely there must be reasons behind them doing so faithfully. Webmasters submit RSS feeds when they update their website with new web pages or build new websites, while companies do so when new products enter the market. The one sole purpose is to drive traffic, or get visitors to their websites.

Where does the traffic come from? We need to understand how RSS feeds work so as to appreciate the whole mechanism of deriving traffic. RSS is simply put, Really Simple Syndication and in XML format. These are files that need to be parsed or read using aggregators or RSS readers.

Before you get drown in a complex myriad of terminology, I will explain things in simple digestible language. RSS feeds essentially displays news or content that refreshes and updates itself whenever the source is updated. Try to imagine that your website is a TV set, and each TV channel is an RSS feed. Each time the channel changes, we see a different image or content on your TV. The same goes for RSS feeds.

People use feeds to convey messages and bring news about finance, stocks, weather, entertainment, latest product reviews, shopping discounts etc to targeted audience. Webmasters can submit RSS feeds to RSS feed directories for free. Such an activity brings significant benefits:

1. Content Syndication

Webmasters are always hungry for unique content. RSS feeds are useful for content management and because content delivery is instantaneous without the need to dabble with and modify their web pages, it’s the choice content source of many websites today. They essentially find their feeds at RSS feed directories, either in general or niche topics. This is one main reason why it makes perfect sense to deposit or submit RSS feeds to these directories. Envisage the kind of traffic your website would receive if your feed is published on other websites in the same theme as yours.

2. Link Popularity

Did you know that you can build RSS feeds and incorporate your links to your websites? If your feed is displayed on another website, that is an additional backlink for you. This has a positive effect on your link popularity in time to come. Download RSS Builder, a freeware to try building an RSS feed of your web page. Submit RSS feeds after that.

3. Build Credibility

Almost all successful webmasters regularly submit RSS feeds of their websites. Since RSS feeds are popular, invest more time in creating news worthy information on your website before distributing the RSS feeds. This would improve the chances of getting your feeds syndicated on popular and authority websites. You can establish yourself as an expert and build credibility in the long run. Credibility is invaluable in business as people would entrust their money to you, ie purchase your products.

4. Content Delivery and Notifications

Subscribers of RSS feed directories would get occasion notifications about the latest RSS feeds available. Submit RSS feeds from time to time, and be a regular contributor of useful feed content. You would pick up many loyal fans along the way as people start book marking your website as their regular content source.

Expert webmasters understand the power of RSS feeds and more so, the importance of distributing feeds to as many directories as possible for explosive impact. Find out what secret tools they are using to submit RSS feeds to feed directories faster and reach more targeted audience.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.



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Pet Feeding Guide asked:


This article will discuss pet feeding and how to properly feed your pet to ensure they receive all the nutrition they need to live a long and healthy life. However, more and more pet owners are resorting to making meals for their pets or feeding pets raw food.

Some people believe that pets should only be fed raw food, as the animal would have eaten in the wild, in order for the pet’s nutrition to be “balanced” in a more natural way. There are many articles available which discuss the possibility that the man-made pet food of today and straying our pets from raw, natural food is the cause for so many diseases that are cropping up in our pets. It is believed that most of these diseases are nutrition-based due to the lack of raw meat and other nutrients in our pets’ diets.

However, veterinarians usually recommend a well-known and trusted brand of pet food that has been specifically designed for your pet. This is where pet feeding can become difficult. The quality of pet food can vary tremendously between brands and can differ in the amount of animal nutrition, therefore it is usually a good idea to choose a brand with a good reputation. For instance, Science Diet dog food and Purina dog food are very well-known and trusted brands.

Pet Feeding for Dogs: Commercial brands of pet food for dogs include canned food, dry food and semi-moist food. Up to 50% of your canine’s diet can come from carbohydrates such as grain. Vets do not recommend semi-moist food because of the additives and chemicals in them. Adult dogs may be fed once or twice per day, while puppies require more frequent feedings. There are brands that specifically specialize in all natural dog food, so if you decide you do want to feed your dog a more natural diet, you may look into it.

Never feed your dog chocolate, onions or garlic in any form (fresh, powder, flakes), persimmons, plant leaves (potato, tomato, rhubarb), mushrooms, grapes / raisins, or macadamia nuts. Also, do not let your dog chew on dryer sheets or eat human vitamins. The chemicals are harmful to them.

Cats also have a variety of food to choose from, ranging from dry, to semi-moist, to canned (wet). As with semi-moist dog food, veterinarians do not recommend it due to the preservative chemicals it contains. Cats require a high moisture content in their food, therefore it may be a good idea to stock up on canned food, which has a terrific balance of moisture.

There are also foods which are unsuitable to feed to a cat, such as: dough that contains yeast, onions, mushrooms, plant leaves, garlic, sugary foods, raw eggs, salt, persimmons, macadamia nuts, and raisins/grapes. Regardless of the rumors that milk is good for cats, you should never feed a cat cow’s milk, as they cannot digest it properly. There are some brands of cat food which offer small bottles of milk, usually intended for kittens.



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Michael Gunn asked:


Among all arguments that happen in this world daily, there has been no end to the breast feeding vs. bottle feeding question. People will argue either point until no end. This is because people feel differently on many view points when it comes to breast feeding. There is much speculation that people turn to bottle feeding because they hear wrong information.

Breast feeding vs. bottle feeding comes down to the certain situation a person is in. At times, there is only one option. Most of the time, however, the mother has a choice. Breast feeding, in most all respects, has proven to be the most effective. There are many breastfeeding benefits that bottle feeding does not provide. Some of these benefits are:

1. Bonding with the infant

2. Coating of the GI tract (first milk)

3. Build up of immune system

4. Less allergy problems

5. Digestive problems

This is only a short list of benefits, but the list of benefits associated with breast feeding is very long. When it comes to breast feeding vs. bottle feeding, it is best to try to breast feed first.

What If I Cannot Breast Feed?

There are many reasons why women cannot breast feed, even though they may want to. Some of these reasons include:

1. Baby will not latch on to the nipple after numerous attempts

2. Diseases such as HIV or Food Poisoning

3. Antibiotics that do not allow breast feeding (although there is usually an alternative)

4. Weak facial features

5. Premature

The most common reason a mother cannot breast feed if she wants to be the fact that a baby will not take to the nipple. This is even after several attempts. Some babies will not latch on and cannot be coerced into latching on either. In this case, the baby will have to take the bottle. This is an exemption in the breast feeding vs. bottle feeding ideal.

There are some disadvantages of breastfeeding as well. These are:

1. Mother is the only one who can feed the baby

2. Mother must pump so a feeding Is not missed

3. Often times the breasts will become sore

4. If you take certain antibiotics or other medications, they may disrupt breast feeding cycle.

Although some of these are not really “disadvantages”, some people might see them as such. Really, it is all part of being a mother. In general, the benefits of breast feeding vs. bottle feeding far outweigh the detractions. If you want the best for your baby, you will breast feed if all possible. This also has other benefits such as cost. Breast feeding is typically less in cost than formula. Mother’s breast milk is free where formula ranges in price. The cost factor incurred in breast feeding is a pump, if you are going to be using one, breasts pads, nipple covers and nursing bras.

The basic idea all comes down to what works best for the mother and their child. Breast feeding vs. bottle feeding can be research farther by visiting the links provided.



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Davion W asked:


Submitting RSS feeds to RSS directories can be a real pain for webmasters or business owners who use RSS feeds to make regular product announcements or promotional offers. When RSS technology first appeared on the internet in the late 90s, the usage is pretty limited. As time passes, RSS feeds have gained much momentum as content syndication becomes a widely accepted means to update web content. Let’s explore the use of RSS feeds and why you should be using RSS submission software to submit RSS feeds.

RSS is the abbreviation or acronym of Really Simple Syndication. RSS feeds are in XML file format which are not readable in its raw form. In order for you to view the content of the RSS feeds, you would need a reader or aggregator to do so. There are many online readers such as My Yahoo, Bloglines, NewsGator etc.

RSS feeds are primarily created to offer dynamic content, ie content that is fresh and updated. As you can see, many news press are using RSS feeds to provide their readers with the latest news in the stock market, sports and world news. Commercial companies offer feeds to subscribers as a means to announce new products, company news, or as an advertising channel. Webmasters use RSS feeds on their websites so that visitors can always read about the latest developments in the web topic or niche such as medical, internet marketing or even stock movements.

Webmasters can build RSS feeds from their web pages and submit RSS feeds to specific niche RSS directories for distribution. This is an excellent way to reach targeted audiences and gain significant traffic. Search engines are not the only places to grab free traffic. When webmasters list their RSS feeds in the RSS feed directories, visitors to these directories may like what they are reading and visit the parent websites. On another note, interesting feeds may be syndicated by fellow webmasters in the same niche. This is invaluable since you would be getting traffic from their websites as well as get some one-way links. We all know that this would have a positive impact on your search engine ranking.

If you are not using RSS feeds to promote your website, you are really losing out to your competitors. That said, it can be a lengthy process to submit RSS feeds for inclusion in the news or RSS feeds directories. Increasingly more webmasters are turning to RSS submission software as a solution to submit RSS feeds.

Let’s use a simple example to illustrate the benefits. Imagine that your income is 30 dollars per hour, and you need to spend about 3-5 hours to manually submit RSS feeds to about 50 – 60 feed directories. The time you lost is worth more than 100 dollars to you each time you submit a RSS feed. Multiply that by the number of websites you have and it is easy to understand why it is more economical to use RSS submission software to submit RSS feeds. Visit my blog to read more about RSS feed submission and popular and affordable RSS submission software webmasters have in their toolkit.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.



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Oleg Chetchel asked:


Oleg Systems Co. engineers industrial dust collectors and dust collection systems. Dust collecting equipment is available in numerous designs utilizing a number of principles and featuring wide variation in effectiveness, initial cost, operating and maintenance expense, space, arrangements and material of construction.

Factors influencing dust collection equipment selection include:

* Concentration and particle size of contaminant;

* Degree of collection required;

* Characteristics of air or gas stream;

* Characteristics of contaminant;

* Methods of disposal.

Depenging on above factors, the following Oleg Systems dust collector types can be utilized:

ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPIRATORS

  The principle of collection relies on the ability to impart a negative charge to particles in the gas stream causing them to move and adhere to the grounded or positively charged collector plates. Most precipitators are made for horizontal air flow with velocities 100 to 600 fpm.

- Fabric Collectors

  Fabric arresters are high efficiency, medium cost collectros. Dust collection is obtained by building up a mat of the material on the dirty side of the media. This mat provides the actual filtering or straining bed. By means of this bed a high degree of removal is obtained even on submicron size particles.

- Intermittent-Duty Fabric Collectors

  These types may use either envelope or stocking arrangement of the fabric but will generally employ shaking or vibrating as a means of reconditioning. Periodically Uusually at 4 to 6 hour intervals0 the air flow must be stopped to effect reconditioning - thus the classification “intermittent”.

- Multiple-Section, Continuous-Duty, Automatic Fabric Collectors

  The disadvanteges of stopping the air flow to permit vibration and variations in the airflow can be overcomed by using of sectional arresters allowing continuous operation of the exhaust system as automatic dampers periodically take one section out of service for reconditioning the fabric while the remaining sections take the entire gas volume.

- Reverse-Jet Fabric Collectors

  The reverse-jet type differs from the conventional arrsters in its use of high pressure air to clean the fabric. One type uses high pressure air (30″ - 40″ WG) froma travelling “blow ring” to dislodge the collected cake from inside the fabric tube. Another type uses high pressure compressed air (100 PSI) to break the dust cake from the exterior of the fabric tube or envelope by the intermittent application of reverse-jet compressed air.

- Reverse-Flow Collapse, Continuous-Duty Collectors

  Reverse-flow collapse cleaning is generally used with glass media which is fragile and requires a gentle cleaning technique. Reversing the glass flow provides a gentle collapse of the fabric usually in a “four point star” braking the dust cake which falls by gravity into the hopper.

WET COLLECTORS

  Wet collectors are available in many different designs. They have the ability to handle high temperature and moisture-laden gases. The collection of dust in wetted form eliminates a secondary dust problem in disposal of collected material. Also, some dust represent explosion or fire hazard when dry and wet collectors eliminate or at least reduce the hazzard.

- Chamber or Spray Tower

  Consists of a round or rectangular chamber into which water is introduced via spray nozzles. There are many variations in design but the principal mechanism is impaction of dust particles on the liquid droplets created by nozzles. These droplets are separated from the air stream by centrifugal force or impingement on water eliminators.

- Packed Towers

  Collectors in this group are essentially contact beds through which gases and liquid pass either concurrently, counter=concurrently or in cross-flow and are used primarily for applications involving gas, vapor and mist removal.

- Wet Centrifugal Collectors

  Wet centrifugal dust collectros utilize centrifugal force to acceslerate the dust particle and impigne it upon a wetted collector surface. These collectors are more efficient than the chamber type. Some are availbale with different number of impingement sections.

- Wet Dynamic Precipitators

  This type uses water sprays within a fan housing and obtains precipitation of the dust particles on the wetted surface of an impeller with special fan blade shape. No internal pressure drop is involved although mechanical efficiency is somewhat lower than the mechanical efficiency of standard exhaust fans.

- Orifice Type Collectors

  In this group of wet collectors designs, the air flow through the collector is brought in contact with a sheet of water in a restricted passage. Water flow may be induced by the velocity of the air stream or maintained by pumps and weirs.

- Venturi Scrubbers

  This collector uses a venturi-shaped construction to establish throat velocities considerably higher than those experienced with the orifice type. The collection mechanism of the venturi is impaction. As with wet collectors in general, the collection efficiency of the venturi increases with higher pressure drops. Different pressure drops are achieved by designing for selected gas velocities in the throat. The venturi iteself is a gas conditioner causing intimate contact between particles in the gas and the multiple jet streams of scrubbing water.

DRY COLLECTORS

- Cyclone Dust Collectros

  Cyclone Collectors are frequently applied for the removal of coarse dusts from an air stream, as a pre-cleaner to more efficient dry or wet dust collectors and / or as a separator in product conveying systems using an air stream to transport material. Principle advantages are low cost, low maintenance and low pressure drop (in order 0.75″ to 1.5″ WG), but this type dust collector can not be used for collection of fine particles.

 

- High Efficiency Centrifugal Collectors

  Have been developed whereby higher centrifugal forces are exerted on dust particles in a gas stream. Improvement in dust separation efficiency has been obtained by 1) increasing velocities through a cyclone shape dust collector, 2) utilizing a skimmer or other design feature, 3) using a number of small diameter cyclones in parallel and 4) placing units in series in some unusual applications.

- Dry Type Dynamic Precipitators

  In this collector, dust is precipitated by centrifugal force on to specially shaped blades on an exhauster wheel and then conveyed through a dust circuit in the fan casing to the dust storage hopper.

- Louver Type Dust Collectors

  Centrifugal forces can be applied to a particle by a rapid change in direction of air flow by series of plates set at an angle to the air stream. Coarse particles traverse the air stream and will project back to the dirty air side by the forces that can be produced from such an impact.

- Settling Chambers

  Dust is settled out in a large chamber when conveying velocities are reduced to the point where the particles are no longer conveyed. Extreme space requirements and the presence of edde currents to nullify the effective velocity mean that settling chamber type of dust collectors can be used only for removal of extremely coarse particles.

- Potable Unit Collectors

  To fill the need for dust collection from isolated, portable or frequently relocated dust producing operations, a number of unit collector designs are availbale having capacities in the range of 200 to 1,000 CFM. Featuring small space and designed to recirculate the air, collectors of this type have been used extensively, especially in the metal working industry.

For additional information please refer to http://www.olegsystems.com/dustcollector/Index.html.

Oleg Chetchel

Canadian Industrial Process Engineer

Oleg Systems Co.

http://www.olegsystems.com/index.html

http://www.olegsystems.com/blower/Index.html



Content

Richard Cooper asked:


 

1. I am from the Legal Department and you are being sued.

From my experience less then 2% of all debts listed to a collection agency ever result in formal legal proceedings and in most cases legal costs required to initiate a lawsuit have to be advanced by the collection agency. From a business perspective, it makes no sense to throw good money after bad hoping to recover the legal costs and the debt if you do not have enough assets available to satisfy the judgment being sought after. It’s just not worth it to the collection agency. Bill collectors use the “legal department” threat only because it is scary and most people don’t know better. The fact is that most bill collectors sit in a tiny 3″x 3″ cubicle and pretend to be someone they really aren’t on the phone.

2. I am going to garnish your pay cheque.

In order to get any piece of your pay cheque, the bill collector needs a judgment from a court in their favour but the collectors will not seek a judgment unless they have reason to believe that you have enough assets to satisfy a judgment. Pursuant to Section 7(2) of the Wages Act (Ontario), no more than 20% of your wages may be garnished. A creditor can bring a motion to increase the amount of wages that may be garnished but a debtor also has the right to bring a motion to have such amount decreased. I have heard Collectors tell people they will garnish 50% of their pay but the truth is that even if they get a judgment, garnishments rarely exceed 15-20% of pay. Again they only use the threat because it scares people and most don’t know any better.

3. If I don’t have payment by 4 p.m. today, we are (Insert threat here).

Bill collectors are paid a commission to do their job and so are the managers that are breathing down their necks in order to hit their targets. Some aggressive bill collectors can make six figures annually if they push people hard enough. They will tell you anything if they feel that it will result in a payment and a bigger commission cheque for them.

4. Pay in full, monthly payments are not an option.

They want full payment from you because they make more money off you when you pay in full. Payments are always an option; in most cases going directly to the creditor will get you a monthly payment plan. It won’t fix your credit but you will at least be able to stop the demand for full payment.

5. Collectors can call you as much as they like.

Pursuant to Section 22(6) of R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 74 to the Collection Agencies Act (Ontario), there are restrictions on the frequency of calls that collection agencies can make to you. Despite what they may tell you a bill collector cannot harass you. If you register a letter requesting the collection agency to communicate with only in writing the calls should stop otherwise you can escalate their behavior to their ombudsman or provincial ministry to take further steps.

6. Collectors can call and harass your family, friends and neighbours.

A collection agency can only contact a third party to confirm your home address and telephone number or your employer to confirm your employment, title and business address; that’s it (Section 22(3) of Regulation 74 to the Collection Agencies Act). If the collector divulges details about the debt or tries to embarrass you, there are steps you can take to deal with and stop this behavior.

7. Bill collectors can talk to you any way they feel.

Bill collectors can be obnoxious and rude; many think that insulting people will get the debt paid. Collection laws prevent this type of behavior reoccurring if you escalate it and deal with the issue. If you feel that they have mistreated you by using profanity, intimidating or coercive language, you can certainly stop it. They will most certainly deny the activity so a tape recorded conversation or voice message will be your best friend here.

Collection agencies and bill collectors have a bad reputation because they are a business like any other whose goal is to generate profits for its shareholders; its their job to push you hard to pay. There are ways to deal with the debt and their behavior but it takes time and a certain investment in researching your rights. Try not to avoid the debt but find a way of dealing with it. The only way to stop the collection activity is to pay the bill or go bankrupt. If you can pay the bills in full, do so as soon as possible.

If payment of your bills is not an option due to extreme financial hardship, you may wish to explore bankruptcy by consulting with a Trustee in your local yellow pages. Going bankrupt will most certainly deal with the debt but since it’s detrimental to your credit rating, it should only be used as a last resort. Also, a Trustee is a court appointed agent for your creditors so even though you pay them for their service, the Trustee is looking after your creditors’ best interests. Your debts are wiped out but so are most of your assets subject to certain limited exceptions and your credit report shows the effect for 7-10 years.

Debt settlement should be considered as an alternative to bankruptcy since it is quickly becoming one of the newest and best options in Canada to retire debt quickly and ethically. A debt settlement company will act as your agent, and negotiate a settlement with your creditors. Once the settlement is paid, the balance is written off and your credit report is updated to reflect that the debt is finalized. The time frame to settle debt can be anywhere from 1 month to 36 months depending on your ability. This is often the least expensive, least damaging to your credit and the fastest path to debt freedom.

Remember that bill collectors make a living off of trying to scare and intimidate people so they can earn a big commission cheque. Consider the source when they call and don’t let bill collectors push you around, you have rights and can fight back and win!



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William Brooks asked:


The title ‘debt collector’ is self explanatory and clearly states what such a person does. If you owe money to a lender and there has been a delay in payments over the past few months the lender may choose to either use their in-house service or employ a specialized debt collection service provider.

If it is a third party i.e. a specialized collection agency, they usually purchase your debts for less than you owe from your lender and then the debt becomes theirs. Therefore, they now have a very high interest in getting the money to settle the debt.

Having a debt collector knocking on your door or receiving his call a number of times a day can be distressing. There is however a way out of the problem. Put in one word it is ‘awareness’ - an awareness of your rights and safeguards. This will control the debt collectors and not the other way around.

Debt collectors while doing their job may tilt towards being forceful and intimidating. As a defaulting borrower, you are already on a back foot. However, you can still stand firm and not give in to their demands.

Here is how:

The job of a debt collector is to advise you that you owe some monies. He cannot threaten, abuse or intimidate you by threats of harm or police action.

A debt collector may establish contact with the borrower in person, via sealed mail, telephone, fax or a telegram. He cannot use a postcard as it can be read by anyone. He cannot also call before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m., unless you agree on a time.

The first call from the debt collection agency has to be followed up by a written statement clearly stating your creditor’s name, the actual amount owed and what action he can take if you do not acknowledge the money owed. This written letter must be accurate and have no false information.

Also note, the debt collector cannot contact your relatives, friends, neighbor etc unless to obtain your contact information. In such circumstances he cannot inform them that you are in debt. You are entitled to your privacy even if you are in default.

Remember you cannot and should not force the debt collectors to coerce you into making payments as per their demands. A number of collection agencies work on the premise that the best way to get the payment is to make sure that it becomes number one on your priority list. While you know you owe the monies, you have to ensure that you clearly prioritize your finances. If there is a greater and pressing need for your money, like for medicines or food then you must allocate the funds accordingly.

You can choose to directly negotiate with the debt collector or appoint an attorney instead. If you deal directly, do not feel compelled to offer private information that can be misused to force payments from you. Example, details of where you work, your personal account information and the like.

Always seek written communication from the debt collector instead of phone conversations. This will put pressure on the collector to be polite and accurate in his dealings with you. All agreed terms and conditions will also be clearly outlined. The original amount owed, along with any interests and fees should also be clearly mentioned. It is also a good idea to tape your phone conversations after having explicitly informed the collector when he calls that the same is being recorded.

I would even write up what happened each and everytime you and the debt collector have any kind of contact. This can prove extremely helpful if anything should go wrong during the payment process.

If your debt collector continues with his forceful methods you have a right to redress. You can complain to the concerned authorities within your jurisdiction and obtain relief.

The best way to counter force is through knowing the facts and standing firm on them. If you have recorded and written down all of the contact you and the debt collector have had, proving actions will be zero problems.



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Stephen Lau asked:


Copyright (c) 2008 Stephen Lau

In the present financial climate, debt collection is commonplace and many people may have to deal with debt collectors due to delinquencies. To deal with creditors is an art.

If you are among one of them, you may think that debt collectors are inhuman: they may have harassed you relentlessly.

Nowadays, many individuals have become debt collectors simply because they need a job, because they want to help others, or, for some, because they have a strong need for control and power. Whatever, debt collectors get trained, but do not go to school to become debt collectors.

Remember, debt collectors are just human, like everyone else. They, too, may have problems paying their own bills.

Understanding the human side of a debt collector may help you deal with one successfully. You must understand that their work environment is always filled with negativity. They need to call you incessantly and relentlessly: they would like to see as many as possible their clients become current. Like most other types of work, they have their own daily, weekly, and monthly goals to meet too.

As a smart consumer, learn how to deal with a debt collector. Dealing with debt collection is less of a hassle if you have the know-how.

According to Sun Tsu’s famous book “Art of War”, “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.”

So know your debt collector (your imaginary “enemy”) and know yourself, and you will resolve your financial problems successfully.

As a smart consumer, it is important to make your account current. It is to your own advantage if you do. Ignoring your debt or delinquency problem - what most consumers choose to do - will not make the problem go away. Make your account current through a plan (knowing yourself, such as how much payment you can afford, and what to do with your current emergency debt situation) and good communication with your debt collector (knowing your “enemy”, such as making the debt collector help you resolve your financial problems).

Knowing yourself also implies adopting a positive and confident attitude before and when you make your initial contact with your debt collector. Remember, you are not a bad person just because you cannot pay your bills. When you put down your name on the dotted line to obtain a credit or loan, you probably did it with good intention. When you are having a financial problem, take care of yourself first and foremost. Do things that may lift up your spirit - things that do not require further straining your finances, such as going camping or fishing (but certainly not going on an expensive vacation).

Be open-minded; avoid being neither defensive nor aggressive when you contact your debt collector. Remember, he or she is human, just like you. An attitude is never a good communication skill, and will not get you anywhere.

Rest assured, your debt collector knows your name and address, your home and work phone numbers, the amount of loan, whether it is secured or unsecured, your payment history, your late payments, and your last payment date and amount. Your debt collector has everything in front of his or her computer when speaking to you. Therefore, you must have the same level of information, otherwise you might feel being intimidated while speaking to a debt collector. That is to say, you must also be as prepared as your debt collector to stay in the same level of information.

As a smart consumer, always request a copy of the payment history and a copy of your contract for the delinquent account (if you have not already done so), and have them mailed to you. This may not only buy you more time, but also show your intention to resolve the problem. To protect yourself, you must read your contract in its entirety and review your account payment history. If errors occur, use them to your advantage.

Review your state’s laws regarding collections and the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) to know your rights as a consumer. Know what a debt collector can and cannot do. If you do not wish your debt collector to call you at work, fax a request to that effect. A debt collector cannot disclose your debt information on a telephone answering machine without your prior permission, or by mailing you a postcard.

If you are knowledgeable of the law and your rights, your debt collector will know that he or she cannot intimidate you.

(Part Two will be on the communication with a debt collector.)



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