She utilized her debit card at a motel in Milwaukee for charges and discovered on her next month’s bank statement that someone had spent $3,500 at another hotel of the same brand in Chicago. At first her bank could not, (or would not) fix the problem, and the hotel accused her of running up the charges herself. Only after threats of going to the authorities and offers of proof that she had been out of town for the time did she have the ability to get the charges reversed.

So here, for your reading pleasure, is a list of DON’Ts and DO’s to keep in mind when you use your debit card. Don’t mistakenly believe that your debit card will enjoy the same protections you get from your credit card. If someone steals your credit card number and racks up a fraudulent bill, you will not be held responsible for the illegal charges, not until the card company finishes its investigation, and most likely not at all if they find evidence of true identity theft.

But, if someone takes your debit card information and starts charging away, you can expect to be held responsible, because the money comes straight out of your bank account. Not only are they your funds directly- with no one out there to cover you, but getting the money back can be a timely hassle, easily taking a month, or more to sort through.

Even if your cash is only put on freeze for a temporary time span, it can still do harm to your budget, especially if you don’t have a large sum of money to tide you over. On top of this, if the hold is greater than your balance, it can set up an overdraft protection and later transactions can be denied or added to your overdraft fees.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a third party debt collection company.

Exactly who is trying to get me to pay up? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was created in the 1970s and provided a good amount of protections for consumers. There are strict rules and regulations that a debt collector must abide by, and if any of these regulations are violated, there’s a good chance that you could sue that agency. But what about that friend of yours who owes you five dollars? Do you have to grant them thirty days to refute the claim? Clearly, you do not.

The point is that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies to debt collectors, and only debt collectors. Take a look at Morency v. Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp, a district court case in Illinois from 1999. Attempting to collect money, a hospital issued and mailed out pre-collection notices, which is a no-no for third party collectors. However, the court ruled that the hospital was merely a creditor, not a collection agency, so the FDCPA did not apply to it.

Courts take a lot of factors into consideration to determine whether the creditor should be considered the actual third party collections agent. A collection agency’s participation in the actual debt collection would have to be miniscule. Is the collection agency only mailing service? Do the letters say if the debtor doesn’t pay the debt will be referred for collection? Is the collection agency paid only for sending letters, rather than commission?

If the collection agency does not receive any payments or forward any payments to the creditor, that is suspicious. If a debtor doesn’t make a response to the letter and the collection company has no further contact with the debtor, or if it doesn’t obtain the files of the debtors, they probably are going to be considered bill collection agencies.

The lesson you should walk away with is that it is crucial that you know who you are paying your debt to. It’s always wise to be on the ball when it comes to your money.

Mallory McGuinness works for a debt collection company. Also she composes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.