You can make most collectors go away with a cease and desist letter. They can sell your debt to another entity, but another C&D will only cost you another stamp. Limit the amount you steal from each creditor, and it's unlikely any individual creditor will sue you. And if they do sue you, they just get a piece of paper saying you owe them money. Enforcing the judgment is another thing. Exceptions are secured loans. They'll take your house and your car and your boat away.
I deal with a lot of deadbeats. I've known people who live comfortably with > $100k in unpaid collections/charge offs. (Maybe more, credit reports only go back 7 years.) If you don't need credit an
d you're sophisticated enough to work the system, you can make it work for you. When it stops working, declare bankruptcy. Wash, rinse, repeat.
most scary debt collectors are scammers, you can ask for their company info and they'll hang up on you. you can shit talk back and nothing really happens. the real ones will send letters listing who theyre collecting on behalf of, the amount etc.
these same people probably have a bancruptcy in their past. not much a debt collector can do with an unsecured loan.
debt collectors are scary until you realize you cant pay them anything anyway so you can set up a payment plan, pay a month and let it go becauae you cant pay anything and set up another on.
or you go to your local Lawyer non profit and go to court. you can settle for much less and work a payment plan. if its credit cards, file a fraud report with the cops and hand that over to debt collection agency. lying is illegal btw.
you could also say "go fuck yourself faggot im not paying shit, call me again in 10 years" and wait for the debt to drop off your report and hope someone lost the paperwork during a debt sale or moving around to put it back on the report.
thats my experience. and the world moved to make cash transactions harder.