Debt Collection Laws provide the required protection to debtors
Debt Collection Laws provide the required protection to debtors
All debt collection agencies and debt collectors employed by these agencies that collect on debts are governed and regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA is a federal statute enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ensure fair debt collection.
Debt collectors are the third party debt collection agents who have bought delinquent debts from creditors at a throw away price and attempt at collecting debt amount or more than debt amount. These debt collectors do not adhere to the FDCPA while attempting to collect money from you. Often they simply ignore the FDCPA guidelines and insist on illegal and unethical practices.
One such aggressive approach by debt collectors is trespassing your private property and entering your premises to collect a debt. Though a debt collector can visit your home or office to attempt debt collection, there should be a prior consent from the consumer for such thing.
805. Communication in connection with debt collection 15 USC 1692c of the FDCPA has a clear explanation about this aspect. It states "Without the prior consent of the consumer given
directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt (1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o'clock antemeridian and before 9 o'clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer's location;"
The FDCPA also states that if you are represented by an attorney and you have informed debt collectors, debt collectors should not communicate with you anymore. If the debt collectors know that your employer disapproves of their visit to the work place, they should stop all such visits or phone calls on office numbers.
With the debt collection laws in place, you have a shield to protect you from debt collection harassment. If a debt collector visits you at home or office against your wishes you can quote from the debt collection laws. Such knowledge should arrest these mean collectors in their tracks.
Contact an FDCPA attorney well versed with the debt collection laws if you are being harassed by debt collectors. An FDCPA attorney can represent you and help you with legal action. You may contact Krohn & Moss Ltd. CONSUMER LAW CENTER that has qualified FDCPA attorneys. These attorneys have helped thousands of victims of debt collection violations.