Tape recording collection calls: five easy steps

Why should you tape record collection calls? Two very good reasons:

To keep a record of any agreements or promises made by you or the debt collector. Even if the collector does confirm the agreement in writing, you should have a recording to prove the original agreement. Without a record, the agreement will be difficult, if not impossible, to prove.
To protect your legal rights. If a debt collector violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you need to be able to prove what they said or did.

Step #1: Read this before recording any collection calls

Several states prohibit recording phone calls without the consent of all parties to the call and make it a crime to record without the permission of all parties. You could also get sued.
Always seek advice from a competent attorney before taping debt collection calls in your state.
It is a federal crime to record any conversation when you are not a party to it. This is known as wiretapping and the civil and criminal penalties for such conduct are severe. Don’t ever do it.
Check out Can We Tape? - A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C. This is an excellent guide to current state laws regarding the recording of collection calls throughout the United States. Always verify this information with a competent attorney before you record.
Whether or not you can tape, use Pete Barry’s telephone log to help you track your phone calls. Accurate records are critical in any lawsuit against a debt collector. Available in DOC & PDF.

We do not recommend using an all-digital recorder for recording collection calls. These recorders are more expensive, and make they make it easy to accidentally erase your recordings. This could be disastrous to your legal case.
All recorders require batteries and blank tapes. Get extras while you are shopping at Radio Shack.
Stick with a good, old-fashioned tape recorder. They are easier to handle and understand, and they are relatively foolproof when it comes to accidental erasures. Below are several good phone recorders you can get from Radio Shack.
- Radio Shack Phone Cassette Recorder (Part No. 43-473) This is an excellent cassette tape recorder that comes with the necessary cords to record from your phone.
- Radio Shack Microcassette Phone Recorder (Part No. 43-476) This is an excellent–and inexpensive–microcassette tape recorder that comes with the necessary cords to record from your phone.
- Radio Shack Cell Phone Recorder Tap (Part No. 17-855) This tap also allows you to record with any standard cell phone headset. Fits most current cell phones, but you will need a separate tape recorder.
- There are several other phone recording options from Radio Shack.
- Plus, this Olympus phone recording device is cheap, easy, and works with any phone.

Radio Shack Stereo Audio Cable (Part No. 42-2497) This is the stereo patch cable you will need if you want to digitize your tape recordings onto your computer. See Step #4 for more information.

Now that you have the tapes, what do you do with them? The best idea is to preserve them digitally so that they can be emailed to others or posted on the web.
Audacity is a free audio editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can do much more than digitize collection calls, but it will serve this purpose just fine. Download and install Audacity

Pop out the small plastic recording tabs on the tape you want to digitize before you put it in the recorder. This will prevent accidental erasures.
Connect the stereo patch cable to the earphone or line out on your tape recorder.
Connect the other end of the patch cable to the sound card mic or line in on your computer.
Turn the recorder volume down low.
Follow the instructions in this tutorial on recording in Audacity.
You will have to adjust and experiment a little with the audio levels in Audacity and the volume control on your tape recorder to get the optimal digitization levels of your tapes. Every tape and tape recorder is different in this respect.
Make sure you play back the recordings after you have made them to ensure they are good quality.
Less is more. The lower the volume adjustment on the recorder, the better the digital recording tends to be.
Make sure to move your tape recorder and the stereo patch cable away from any source of electronic interference when you are digitizing the recordings. Fax machines, computer speakers, and other electronic devices can seriously impair the quality of the digitized recordings if you are not careful.
Save your digital recordings of the tapes as .mp3 files using at least 44.1 kHz, joint stereo quality.
Audacity allows you to digitally splice segments of a tape and save them as their own recordings. This feature is especially helpful if you have multiple calls on a tape or you have unrelated calls mixed in with collection calls.