The FDCPA defines a debt collector as anyone who regularly collects, or attempts to collect, consumer debt for another person or institution or. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is the primary federal law governing debt collection practices. The FDCPA prohibits debt collection companies from using abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices to collect your debts. Read more about your rights under of the FDCPA.
Under this Act (Title VIII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act), third-party debt collectors are prohibited from using deceptive or abusive conduct in the collection of consumer debts incurred for personal, family or household purposes. These collectors cannot, for example, contact debtors at odd hours, subject them to repeated telephone calls, threaten them with legal action that is not actually contemplated, or reveal the existence of debts to others. FDCPA debt collectors who carry out this activity are subject to the other requirements and prohibitions of the law and Regulation F when it comes to collecting debts, whether or not they have a statute of limitations. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) debt collection rule clarifies the FDCPA's rules on how debt collectors they can communicate with debtors.
The FDCPA and its implementing Regulation F govern the conduct of “debt collectors when they collect” debts. The CFPB also notes that the FDCPA can cover a wide range of activities not related to the collection of foreclosure debts, such as communicating with consumers about delinquent mortgages. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) considers a physical visit to your workplace to be “publicizing your debt.” The FDCPA makes it illegal for debt collectors to use abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices when they are trying to collect debts. If the FDCPA is violated, the debtor can sue the debt collection company and the individual debt collector for damages and attorney fees.
It is also a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) for a debt collector to threaten to garnish your wage if you cannot legally garnish it. The FDCPA creates a structure within which debt collectors can work in an attempt to make debt collection a fair and non-aggressive process. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that limits the actions of outside debt collectors who attempt to collect debts on behalf of another person or entity. The FDCPA and Regulation F define “debt” as any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money that arises from a transaction in which the money, property, insurance or services subject to the transaction are primarily intended for personal, family or household purposes, regardless of whether or not that obligation has been reduced to a judgment.
The FDCPA only applies to third-party debt collectors, such as those who work for a debt collection agency. Consequently, an FDCPA debt collector who files or threatens to initiate foreclosure action before a state court to collect a prescribed mortgage debt may violate the FDCPA and Regulation F. The Consumer Financial Protection Office (CFPB) issues this advisory opinion to affirm that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing Regulation F prohibit a debt collector, as that term is defined in law and regulations, from suing or threatening to sue to collect a debt that has been prescribed. If you believe that a debt collector has violated the FDCPA, you can contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) or your state's attorney general.
