There is little or no legal weight to a phone call from a credit card debt collector. Anyone can say anything and get away with it. Debt collectors use that to their full advantage. The telephone is their weapon of choice. Once things get reduced to writing, they become toothless and the consumer has a far better chance to eliminate credit card debt.

Consumers can eliminate credit card debt with WRITTEN communications. The record of written contact with a credit card debt collector is what holds weight in court. That record is a lot stronger when a consumer sends all letters certified return receipt requested.

It is commonly accepted that all credit card debt collectors lie on the telephone. Here are some of the lies they tell over the telephone:

1. They claim over the telephone that a lawsuit has been filed against you in your local court, and that the summons is on its way to you. This is an awful, scary lie.

2. They threaten to have you arrested. (Debts are civil, not criminal.)

3. They tell you you may be arrested, knowing no one can be arrested for a civil matter.

4. They will tell you may have your wages reduced to pay your debt, and you will get a negative listing on your credit report.

5. They tell you they can seize your bank account.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is violated by each of these threats.

These threats are attempts to get you to confirm that the debt is yours. The credit card debt collector wants to confirm the credit card number in question and get other personal information. They want to know your Social Security number, the phone number of your work place and even information about your bank account. The Credit Card Debt Survival Guide advises you to eliminate credit card debt by disputing the debt and denying it over the phone to the credit card debt collector. Remember that the person on the other end of the line unknown to you. Tell them you do not share personal information over the phone with people unknown to you and then hang up.

If you get stuck on the telephone with a debt collector, get them to tell you which debt they are calling about, tell them that you need written notice of it from them, and hang up.

Fortunately, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows you to write to the debt collector instructing them to stop all collection calls. Once this has happened, any calls are subject to a $1000 penalty because they then violate the law. You can keep a log of every call and then contact a consumer rights attorney about suing the debt collector, fee paid on the contingency of winning.

Matt Highlander writes about the many strategies to eliminate credit card debt; some for those who can pay, some for those who cannot pay. Read all about them in the 230-page Credit Card Debt Survival Guide www.credit-card-debt-survival.com