Fair Debt Collection Practices

This federal law covers personal, family and household debts. This includes buying a car on time and owing for medical care or credit card accounts.

A debt collector is anyone who regularly collects debts owed to others. This can include lawyers.

Unless you give permission in advance, a debt collector may not call you at before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. If the debt collector knows your employer does not like debt collection calls, then the collector cannot call you at work.

You can write a letter to the debt collector telling it to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, it may not call you except to say the debt collector or the creditor plans to sue you or do something else specific.

Sending the letter does not make the debt go away. Either the debt collector or your original creditor could still sue you.

If you have a lawyer, the debt collector must call the lawyer, rather than you. If you do not have a lawyer, a collector may only ask other people where you live, what your phone number is, and where you work. Collectors usually cannot call these people more than once. In most cases, the collector may not tell anyone other than you and your lawyer that you owe money.

Within five days, the debt collector must send you a written notice telling you:

·         the amount of money you owe

·         the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money

·         what to do if you believe you do not owe the money

If you send a letter denying the debt within 30 days, a debt collector cannot call you until the collector has sent you proof of the debt. This proof can be a copy of a bill for the amount owed.

Harassment. Debt collectors may not harass you. They cannot:

·         use threats of violence or harm;

·         put an ad in a paper naming you as a consumer who refuses to pay debts;

·         use obscene or profane language; or

·         repeatedly use the telephone to annoy you.

False statements. Debt collectors may not lie or mislead you. For example, debt collectors may not:

·         make you think that they are lawyers (unless they are);

·         make you think that they work for the government;

·         suggest you have committed a crime;

·         overstate the amount of your debt;

·         send you papers and say they are legal forms when they are not;

·         send you anything that looks like an official document from a court;

·         say you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt;

·         say they will garnish you, unless they have a judgment against you;

·         say they will file a lawsuit if they do not intend to file a suit;

·         give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau; or

·         use a false name.

Unfair practices. Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, collectors may not:

·         deposit a post-dated check prematurely;

·         trick you into accepting collect calls or paying for a telegram;

·         send you a postcard.

If you owe more than one debt, the debt collector must apply your payment where you say. A debt collector cannot apply a payment to a debt you dispute.

• Report any problems you have with a debt collector to your state Attorney General's office.

• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC cannot solve your individual problem.  The FTC can and will use what you put in your complaint to try to uncover patterns of fraud and abuse.  After FTC investigates, it may be able to stop any unfair business practice.

• You also have one year to sue a debt collector who violates the law.