Millions of web applications have flooded the market to complement the booming popularity of smartphones in New York and elsewhere. These apps can summon ultra-convenient information to your phone and put it at your fingertips with just a couple clicks. Smartphone apps can do everything from show you movie times and help you purchase tickets to suggest restaurants that might be worth trying. Now, these apps can even help stop creditor harassment.

A company has created an app called PrivacyStar. The aim in developing PrivacyStar was to help give consumers control of their phones back, instead of being bombarded by threatening phone calls from credit collectors or other telemarketers. In addition to blocking phone calls and text messages from unknown numbers or expected telemarketers, the app boasts a useful feature for those caught in a whirlwind of calls from debt collectors.

If a customer receives repeated calls from a debt collector that they do not owe money -- which happens quite often -- the user can have PrivacyStar issue a complaint directly to the Federal Trade Commission. The same situation applies to individuals who receive numerous calls from telemarketers after requesting to be put on the 'Do not call' list. This is a feature that has proven invaluable as PrivacyStar issued 250,000 complaints in the last year.

For those being hounded by debt collectors that are trying to collect on legitimate debt, phone users can simply block calls from certain numbers. This is another feature PrivacyStar's customers have used quite often, blocking 124 million calls so far.

Phone users can try out the app free for a week, but costs $3 per month to use afterward.

Source: NY1.com, "Smartphone app battles harassing debt collectors, unknown numbers," Asa Aarons, Jan. 12, 2012