LaToya Irby is a credit expert who has been covering credit and debt management for The Balance for more than a dozen years. She's been quoted in USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press, and her work has been cited in several books.
Updated on January 16, 2022 Reviewed byPeggy James is an expert in accounting, corporate finance, and personal finance. She is a certified public accountant who owns her own accounting firm, where she serves small businesses, nonprofits, solopreneurs, freelancers, and individuals.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, more commonly referred to as the FDCPA, is a federal law that defines how debt collectors can act when collecting a debt from you. There are specific things a debt collector can't do. If you need to reference the law to verify whether a debt collector is acting outside the law, citations have been provided.
The collector cannot misrepresent the amount you owe. They can't say your balance is higher than it actually is.
You're allowed to ask a third-party collection agency to send proof of the debt and the amount they're pursuing you for. Make this debt validation request in writing.
The collector can't add on any extra fees or interest that your original credit or loan agreement doesn't allow.
The FDCPA considers repeat calls as harassment. You can stop debt collector calls by writing and asking them to stop calling.
Using this kind of language is considered harassment.
Call times are based on your local time zone. Calls outside the allowed times are considered harassment.
This might include weekends, holidays, or other times you've specifically informed the collector not to call you. Calls at inconvenient times are considered harassment.
Collectors can't threaten violence against you. Threats could be breaking more than just debt collection laws.
Collectors can't threaten to sue or file charges against you, garnish wages, take property, cause job loss, or ruin your credit when the collector cannot or does not intend to take the action.
Unless you have expressly given permission, collectors are not allowed to inform anyone about your debt except:
The collector can only contact a third party once unless it has reason to believe the information previously provided is false.
A collector is not allowed to contact you at work if you’ve let them know your employer doesn’t approve of these calls. The collector also isn't allowed to let your employer or co-workers know that they're a debt collector.
You can send a written cease and desist letter to stop a debt collector from calling you at work.
Within five days of the collector's initial communication, it must send you a notice include the amount of the debt, name of the creditor, and notice of your right to dispute the debt within 30 days.
A collector can't continue to collect on a debt after you've made a written request to verify the debt as long as the request was made within 30 days of the collector's written notice.
After receiving your written dispute, the collector must stop collecting on the debt until you have received verification.
If you make a written request for the collector to cease communication, it can only contact you one more time, via mail to let you know one of the following: that further efforts to collect the debt are terminated, that certain actions may be taken by the collector, or that the collector is definitely going to take certain actions.
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