"At work, they were relentless! They wouldn't let me off the phone!"

Debt collectors demanded that she and her husband Bill - pay up. The Crabills had re-financed their home, and CitiFinancial insisted they owed nearly $20,000 on their original mortgage. Bill and Georgianne insisted they didn't owe it. They were threatened with foreclosure.

And the phone kept ringing. "We couldn't do anything. They wouldn't listen to us. It was like they backed us into a corner we couldn't get out," said Bill Crabill.

The Crabills are not alone, stressed out by debt collectors who call day and night, and sometimes cross the line into threats and harassment."

Attorney William Howard shared excerpts of calls -that he says- break the law. In one recording of a debt collector leaving a message with a Florida resident, he's talking about credit card debt:

"Thank you for being a gutless person, just downright nasty. Legal action will be taken against you. We know exactly where you work and what you do for a living. So once again thank you for being ignorant. Have a nice day."

"Most of the type of conduct that we have on tape is intended to, and does, terrorize people."

Howard, an attorney for Morgan & Morgan Law Firm in Florida, sues hundreds of debt collectors on behalf of consumers.

"They're not allowed to be pushy. They're not allowed to be abusive. And they're not allowed to employ tactics meant to scare people or embarrass them into payments," he said.

Another recording from a woman who identified herself as Corey, left a message with a man who was behind on car payments, using an expletive and a racial slur:

"I am like right now climbing into your family background. I am going to dig up so deep up yours. You're gonna wonder why you didn't do the right thing. "You're just another ___ ___. Have a nice day." click.

If you really do owe the money or it's in dispute, Howard said you should:

-save the messages

-keep a log of names, phone numbers and times of calls

-only respond in writing by certified mail

-and you can demand that they stop calling, especially at work.

"It was very difficult," said Georgianne Crabill, choking up, "I'm sorry..."

For the Crabills, the calls went on for years. The stress was nearly unbearable. But they had one thing in their favor: they did not owe the debt CitiFinancial was trying to collect. They fought back in court.

"Finally after we counter-sued them, they admitted they they had done something wrong and figured it out and cleared everything up. But if we hadn't done that, we wouldn't have our house today."