Illegal Debt Collection Practices

Learn what bill collectors can and can’t do under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

If you ‘re dealing with a collector or have a debt that might soon go to collection, it ‘s authoritative to know what debt solicitation agencies are allowed to do under the law. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) ( 15 U.S.C. § 1692 and following ) makes certain collection tactics that solicitation agencies use illegal, like :

• contacting third parties about your debt
• engaging in conduct meant to harass, oppress, or abuse you, and
• lying to you or misleading you.

Below we outline some of the more important of these restrictions sol you know what beak collectors can and ca n’t do .

Options If a Debt Collector Violates the Law

Reading: Illegal Debt Collection Practices

You use your cognition of these laws to protect yourself from harassment. For example, if a collector violates one of these laws, you might be able to :

• use the violation to negotiate a favorable settlement
• file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (for debt collectors with more than $10 million in annual receipts—about 60% of the debt collection business) or the Federal Trade Commission, or
• sue the collector.

FDCPA Applies to Debt Collectors, Not Original Creditors; Sometimes Debt Buyers

The FDCPA applies to debt collectors, but normally not to creditors collecting debts they originated. The law does apply to a creditor that collects its own debts under a different name. The term “ debt collector ” includes person who regularly collects debts for others, or whose chief business is collecting debts .
Some debt buyers that purchase, and therefore own, the debt they ‘re trying to collect are n’t subject to the FDCPA. ( See Henson et al. v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. , 137 S.Ct. 1718 ( 2017 ) ). But the FDCPA applies to a debt buyer if the business ‘s principal function is the collection of debts. ( See Tepper v. Amos Financial, LLC, 898 F.3d 364 ( 3rd Cir. 2018 ), 12 C.F.R. § 1006.2 ( one ), effective November 30, 2021, see official interpretation ) .
besides, some states, like California, have laws that restrict what creditors can do when collecting debts .

Illegal Debt Collection Practices Under the FDCPA

The FDCPA requires that a collection agency make specific disclosures and prohibits collectors from engaging in many kinds of abusive or deceptive demeanor. here are some collection actions that the FDCPA prohibits .

Communications With Third Parties

For the most function, a collection agency ca n’t contact third gear parties about your debt, subjugate to a few exceptions. Collectors are allowed to contact :

• Your attorney. If the collector knows you’re represented by an attorney, it must talk to the attorney only, not you, unless you give it permission to contact you or your attorney doesn’t respond to the agency’s communications.
• A credit reporting agency.
• The original creditor.

Collectors are besides allowed to contact your spouse, your parents ( only if you ‘re a minor ), and your codebtors. But they ca n’t make these contacts if you ‘ve sent a letter asking them to cease communication .
besides, debt collectors are allowed to contact third base parties for the circumscribed purpose of finding information about your whereabouts. In these contacts, collectors :

• must state their name and that they’re confirming location information about you
• can’t identify their employer unless asked
• can’t state that you owe a debt
• can’t contact a third party more than once unless required to do so by the third party, or unless they believe the third party’s earlier response was wrong or incomplete and that the third party has correct or complete information
• can’t communicate by postcard
• can’t use any words or symbols on the outside of an envelope that indicate they are trying to collect a debt (including a business logo or letterhead) if either would give away the purpose of the letter, and
• can’t call third parties for location information once they know an attorney represents you.

Communications With You

A debt collector ‘s foremost communication with you must tell you that they ‘re attempting to collect a debt and that any data obtained from you will be used for that purpose. The collector must besides state that “ the communication is from a debt collector ” in subsequent communications. These disclosures are much called a “ mini-Miranda. ” besides, in subsequently communications, the collector must tell you the collector ‘s diagnose and the collection agency ‘s identify .
Under a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule, effective in former 2021 ( see below ), debt collectors must make the mini-Miranda disclosures in the same terminology or languages used for the rest of the communication in which the disclosures are conveyed. Collectors do n’t, however, have to identify which consumers ca n’t communicate in English, nor provide translations in multiple languages .
A collector ca n’t contact you :

• at an unusual or inconvenient time or place—calls before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. are presumed to be inconvenient, but if you work nights and sleep during the day, a call at 1 p.m. might also be inconvenient
• directly, if it knows or should have known that you have an attorney, or
• at work, if it knows that your employer prohibits you from receiving collections calls at your place of employment. If you’re contacted at work, and you’re not allowed to have personal calls there, tell the collector that your boss prohibits such calls.

Changes to the FDCPA as of November 30, 2021

Because Congress passed the FDCPA decades ago, this police did n’t initially address modern communication methods like text messages, emails, voicemails, and social media. On October 30, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule amending Regulation F, which implements the FDCPA, to clarify how debt collectors can use these digital communications. The predominate explains how the FDCPA ‘s protections apply to digital communications and gives consumers the ability to unsubscribe from debt collectors ‘ electronic messages. It besides describes how collectors may use voicemails and limits how much debt collectors can call you. The final principle becomes effective on November 30, 2021 .
After the rule change, consumers can still cease all collection communications from a debt collector and besides end communications through a particular medium, subject to some exceptions. ( 15 C.F.R. § 1692c ( cytosine ), 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6 ( hundred ), 12 C.F.R. § 1006.14 ( henry ) ). For example, if a person tells a debt collector to “ stop calling, ” this statement means the person has requested that the debt collector not use call calls to communicate with the person and prohibits the debt collector from communicating or attempting to communicate through telephone calls. Or a person may request that a debt collector not use a specific savoir-faire or telephone number. ( 12 C.F.R. § 1006.14 ( hydrogen ), see official rendition ) .
besides, under changes to the federal FDCPA in late 2021, a debt collector must not bring or threaten to bring a legal action against a consumer to collect a time-barred debt. ( 12 C.F.R. § 1006.26 ( bel ) ). This deepen is reproducible with sheath law, which says threats of lawsuits on time-barred debts violate § 1692e of the FDCPA .

Harassment or Abuse

In general, a collection means ca n’t engage in conduct entail to harass, oppress, or pervert. specifically, it ca n’t :

• use or threaten to use violence
• harm or threaten to harm you, another person, or your or another person’s reputation or property
• use obscene, profane, or abusive language
• publish your name as a person who doesn’t pay bills (child support collection agencies are exempt from this restriction in some states)
• list your debt for sale to the public
• call you repeatedly, or
• place telephone calls to you without identifying the caller as a bill collector.

False or Misleading Representations

A collection agency ca n’t lie. For case, it ca n’t :

• claim to be a law enforcement agency or suggest that it is connected with the federal, state, or local government (a collector making this kind of claim is probably lying, unless it’s trying to collect unpaid child support, or it’s a private check diversion program under contract with a district attorney)
• falsely represent the amount you owe or the amount of compensation the collection agency will receive
• claim to be an attorney or that a communication is from an attorney
• claim that you’ll be imprisoned or your property will be seized, unless the collection agency or original creditor intends to take action that could result in your going to jail or your property being taken (you can go to jail only for extremely limited reasons)
• threaten to take action that isn’t intended or can’t be taken—for example, if a letter from a collection agency states that it is a “final notice,” it can’t write you again demanding payment
• falsely claim you’ve committed a crime
• threaten to sell a debt to a third party, and claim that, as a result, you’ll lose defenses to payment you had against the creditor, such as a breach of warranty
• communicate false credit information, like failing to state that you dispute a debt
• send you a document that looks like it’s from a court or attorney or part of a legal process if it isn’t
• use a false business name, or
• claim to be employed by a credit bureau, unless the collection agency and the credit bureau are the same company.

Unfair Practices

A solicitation agency ca n’t engage in any unfair or exorbitant method acting to collect a debt. For model, it ca n’t :

• add interest, fees, or charges not authorized in the original agreement or by state law
• accept a check postdated by more than five days unless it notifies you between three and ten days in advance of when it will deposit the check
• deposit a postdated check prior to the date on the check
• solicit a postdated check for the purpose of then threatening you with criminal prosecution
• cause you to incur communications charges, such as collect call fees, by concealing the true purpose of the communication
• threaten to seize or repossess your property if it has no right to do so or no intention of doing so
• communicate with you by postcard, or
• put any words or symbols on the outside of an envelope sent to you that indicate it’s trying to collect a debt.

Getting Help

If you think a debt collector has violated the FDCPA when trying to collect a debt from you, consider talking to an lawyer to get advice about your options .