An Overview Of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also known as FDCPA is a federal law enacted in 1977 to govern the collection practices of the debt collectors who have been legally authorized by your creditors to collect a debt. Such collectors are known as third-party debt collectors and they are obligated to follow the rules of the FDCPA. Here’s a closer look at the rules that a third-party debt collector must follow while collecting a debt.

While collecting a debt, a third party collector can not:

  • * Call you at inconvenient times such as before 8am or after 9pm
  • * Contact you at work, especially if the debt collector is aware that your employer doesn’t approve of these phone calls
  • * Harass, intimidate, oppress, or abuse you
  • * Lie to you or falsely imply that you have committed a crime
  • * Threaten violence against you, your reputation, or even your property
  • * Use obscene or profane language when communicating with the debtor via phone or through mail
  • * Conceal his or her identity on the phone by saying that they are attorneys or government representatives
  • * Send you documents that look like official documents from a court or government agency when it is not.
  • * Communicate through post card or use any kind of symbol or language on an envelope that shows they are a debt collector.
  • * Misrepresent the amount of debt.
  • * Publish any kind of listing of consumers that have not paid debt, except to a consumer reporting agency.
  • * Provide false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau.
  • * Communicate with you once they know you are represented by an attorney – and even have the contact information for the attorney

FDCPA also dictates how the debt collector must act while communicating/ contacting a person other than the debtor.

Under any circumstances, the collector is not allowed to give out information pertaining to your debt to any third person like your family members, friends, colleagues or neighbors. However, the collector can give out the information regarding your debt to your spouse.

What should you do when your rights have been violated?

If your rights under the FDCPA have been violated, you can lodge a complaint against the collection agency with the FTC. You can also file a lawsuit against the debt collector. You must file the suit with in one year from the date of the violation. If you win then you can receive up to $1,000 in addition to actual damages and attorney fees.

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