Home » FDCPA-Discover the 10 laws that regulate the collection agencies through the FDCPA

FDCPA-Discover the 10 laws that regulate the collection agencies through the FDCPA

Posted: Sunday, January 09, 2011

by Mark Clayborne
Mark Clayborne

Let me ask you a simple questions. Do you know what laws regulate the collection agencies? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act regulates the collection agencies and prohibits them from violating the following seven FDCPA laws.

They can only contact a third-party to secure your location, but they cannot disclose the matter of the call.
After the collection agency knows that you have legal representation, they must communicate only with your attorney, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable time.
They cannot call you before 8am or after 9pm.
If your employment prohibits personal phone calls, they cannot call your job.
The collector cannot discuss your debt with any third-party unless it's your attorney, a credit bureau, the creditor, or the creditor's attorney.
If you notify the collector in writing that you want them to stop calling and sending you letters, they must stop. They can still send you one last letter advising you what actions they will take next.
They cannot harass, oppress, abuse, threaten use of violence, use obscene or profane language, cause your telephone to ring repeatedly with the intent to be annoying, or make calls to your house without disclosing their identity.

Three additional FDCPA Laws

They may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation while trying to collect any debt. They can't appear to be affiliated with any government or law enforcement agency, representation that they are attorneys, threaten to garnish your wages, or say that they can have you arrested and imprisoned. Further, they cannot threaten to take action that cannot be legally taken. In addition, they may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt. They cannot collect interest, fees, or charges (unless authorized by a signed agreement with you) or threaten to deposit a post dated checked issued by you.

They must obtain verification of the debt or a copy of the judgment and mail it out to you upon request within 30 days. If you dispute the debt within the 30 days of receiving a notice from the collector, they must cease collection of the debt until they obtain verification of the debt.

If you have multiple debts with one collection agency, they must apply the payment to the debt you advised them to pay.

Concluding, as you can see there are many laws like the FDCPA that regulate the collection agencies. The sad part is that most consumers don’t know about these laws, so the collectors take advantage of this fact and violate the law.

Mark Clayborne is a Certified Credit Consultant with ten years of experience assisting consumers with credit issues. Show me how to Improve My Credit Click Here and get a Free Restore your Credit E-class at http://www.hiddencreditrepairsecrets.com

This Article has been viewed 150 times. (Not updated in real-time.)

No comments yet.

We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.