If you have debts and you are constantly receiving calls from a collection company to demand payment, it is possible that you are being the victim of an illegal practice. Below we see to what extent telephone harassment for debts is legal, what the law says about these recovery methods and what you can do as a debtor.
In Spain, many companies decide to hire the services of recovery companies, largely due to the slowness of judicial processes. Thus, these companies claim debts from debtors extrajudicially on behalf of the creditor company to obtain payment. They do it through different methods such as sending letters, burofax, emails, calls to the debtor and close people, etc.
These debt claim companies are legal and, a priori, so are their practices. However, as there are no regulations in Spain that regulate their activity, their practices often go beyond legal limits.
The modus operandi of some of these companies is to insistently pressure debtors, annoy them, intimidate them, embarrass them -companies such as the collector of the tailcoat or the bullfighter of the delinquent move in this line- and even threaten them. However, in the collection of defaults, not everything goes, and when there is a threat and coercion, the rights and freedoms of the debtor are being violated and, therefore, a criminal offense is committed.
There are different types of coercion crime contemplated in Article 172.1 and 172.3 of the Criminal Code: basic type, aggravated type and minor coercion crime. The consideration of one or the other will depend on the circumstances that occur in each case after being evaluated by a court.
These are some of the acts that can be considered illegal when claiming a payment:
In short, it may be considered a criminal offense when the request for payment is accompanied by intimidation, threats or when it is publicly communicated that the person in question owes money. It may also be so if the claim for non-payment is repeated obsessively, when the alleged debtor or people related to him are physically persecuted.
In case of receiving constant harassment of calls with threats and coercion, the debtor has every right to file a complaint in the Court of duty against the collection company. To do this, it is essential to collect evidence such as recordings and lists of call logs that demonstrate abusive practices.
Now, the definitive and easiest way to end the persecution of these companies is to benefit from the Second Chance Law (LSO). With this legal mechanism, all creditors are obliged to cease the persecution against the debtor and his assets.
