Times are lean, and it's not surprising that people all over Boulder County and across the nation are falling behind on their payments. But, just because you missed a few bills doesn't mean you're scum -- no matter what the debt collector tells you.

And scum isn't too strong of a word ... for the collectors. The Internet is full of horror stories about collection agencies. One tells how a collector told a 9-year-old girl that if her mommy didn't pay her debts, they'd take her mom away forever. Another told a woman she was a deadbeat, worthless and a criminal. One lady said the collector scolded her for spending money on her children at Chuck E. Cheese.

Here in Boulder, people have told me they've hung up the phone crying after a collector called, or they live in fear that the collector will call their family or out them to their boss.

Not only is that kind of intimidation pathetic, but it's illegal.

To be clear, I'm not advocating skipping bills, dodging your debts or any other kind of financial recklessness. Not only is it bad for the person or business you borrowed money from, it's also going to destroy your credit score. But, who am I to judge someone who may suddenly be swamped with medical bills, blind-sided by a layoff, or beat down by $4-a-gallon gasoline.

So here are the rules, ala the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and a similar federal law. First, a collector cannot call you at "inconvenient" hours, meaning those middle-of-the-night phone calls are way out of bounds. Also, the collector can't call you at work if you or your employer has asked them not to. The collector cannot contact your friends, family or co-workers except to find out your contact information, and they can only call each person once.

When collectors do call, they can't harass, oppress or abuse you or anyone else they get on the phone. In other words, they can't threaten violence, and they can't use obscene language.

But, they do.

So what can you do? Check out the Colorado Attorney General's Web site at www.ago.state.co.us, and then click on Consumer Protection and then on Collection Agencies and Debt Collection. From there you can learn more and may download a complaint form if you need to report a particularly nasty collector.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Laura Snider at 303-473-1327 or sniderl@dailycamera.com.