Chances are, a collector won’t know how the debt will affect your credit.

Debt collectors cannot come calling with lies, says the Federal Trade Commission. If you hear these statements, hang up and file a complaint with the government.

Paying today will instantly remove the delinquency from your credit report. Nice try, according to a consumer protection report. Federal credit laws usually don’t allow that information to hit your report for – in most cases – seven years, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Paying today will push up your credit score. Um, they don’t determine that number, rather the three credit-reporting agencies do, according to the CFPB report. That debt probably isn’t weighted as heavily as, say, your house and car payments. If those are deliquent than settling this debt probably won’t make a difference. If those accounts are perfectly paid, well, your score will probably reflect as much.

Paying now will make you more attractive to lenders. Each lender looks at a different set of financial circumstances and this debt-collector probably has no clue about any of the businesses from which you’d like to borrow.

Debt Collectors also CANNOT:

• falsely claim that they are attorneys or government representatives;
• falsely claim that you have committed a crime;
• falsely represent that they work for a credit reporting company;
• misrepresent the amount you owe;
• indicate that papers they send you are legal forms if they aren’t; or
• indicate that papers they send to you aren’t legal forms if they are
• say you will be arrested if you don’t pay your debt;
•  seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages unless they are permitted by law to take the action and intend to do so
• say legal action will be taken against you, if doing so would be illegal OR if they don’t intend to take the action.
• give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit reporting company;
• send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency if it isn’t
• collect any interest, fee, or other charge on top of the amount you owe