- Collection agencies must always abide by the rules and guidelines of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (FDCPA), which is a law established by Congress. Among other things, the FDCPA states that debt collectors cannot harass or abuse debtors during their collection activities. They cannot misrepresent themselves by pretending to be law enforcement personnel, a representative from an attorney's office or a government official.
- A collection agency will engage in "skip tracing" activities which is a process of searching for debtors whose whereabouts are unknown. They will contact personal references, public records and review a debtor's credit report for location information.
- Collection agencies will pursue legal action if a debtor refuses to pay after being contacted. Legal action can lead to a judgment through the court system.
- After receiving a judgment a collection agency can get a bank levy which is the process of freezing all or a portion of the funds in a debtor's bank account. The money is then released to the agency for payment of the debt.
- Collection agencies can also garnish the wages of a debtor. This allows them to deduct 25 percent of the debtor's income from his paycheck as payment for the past-due debt.
