Fair Debt Collection Practices Act · (a) Abusive Practices · (b) Inadequate Laws · (c) Available Non-Abusive Collection Methods · (d) Interstate Commerce · (e). As a public service, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff have prepared the following full text of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This subchapter can be cited as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 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. A creditor may try to collect an outstanding debt in a number of ways. However, due to “abundant evidence” of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors, (15 U.S. UU., C.) The FDCPA prohibits outside debt collectors from contacting a debtor directly if they know that the debtor is represented by an attorney.
In addition, in their first communication with the consumer, debt collectors are required to “notify debtors of their ability to challenge the validity of a debt” and to provide other basic information. Photo against NCO Financial Systems, Inc. This includes informing the debtor of their right to ask the collection agency to “validate” the debt. In addition to administrative execution (15 U, S, C.First, the FDCPA generally applies only to third-party debt collectors; the legal scheme was not intended to cover the conduct of the original creditor.
However, some states, such as California, have enacted consumer protection laws that offer broader coverage than the FDCPA, and may include the conduct of the original creditor in their scope of application. The FDCPA allows these types of state laws. For more information on the FDCPA, see this article from the University of Berkeley Law Review, this Brooklyn Law Review article, and this article from St. The law makes it illegal for debt collectors to harass debtors in other ways, including threats of bodily harm or arrest.
Nor can they lie or use profane or obscene language. In addition, debt collectors cannot threaten to sue a debtor unless they actually intend to take the debtor to court. Are you calling a debt collector? What can it do? What are your rights? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) makes it illegal for debt collectors to use abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices when collecting debts. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about your rights.
The FDCPA requires a collection agency to disclose specific information and prohibits collectors from engaging in many types of abusive or misleading behavior. A debt collector who leaves a limited-content message does not violate the FDCPA ban on third-party communications.
