Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

There is a federal law that protects consumers from both harassment and abuse by collection agencies. It is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or FDCPA. This law is applied when it comes to third-party collectors, which are people who have been employed by the original creditor in order to collect on a debt.

These are most commonly the collection agencies, who try to collect the money or debt that is owed to the original party. However, this law doesn’t apply to the original credit institution since they aren’t legally required to follow this law.

One of the best ways to protect yourself from abusive or harassing collection practices is to understand the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and communicating to a collector that you understand this law and your rights.

To fully understand the FDCPA, here are a few examples of violations:

• Attempting to contact a debtor despite the fact that he/she is represented by an attorney.
• Threatening to press criminal charges or threats of prosecution or jail time.
• Calling prior to 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. local time.
• Using abusive language which is obscene or foul.
• Failing to indentify on all communications that the party is a debt collector.
• Discussing or attempting to discuss the debt with an employer or co-worker of the debtor.
• Misrepresentation by claiming to be from the court, police department or government.
• Falsely threatening to file a lawsuit against the debtor.

There are many more examples and situations that the knowledgeable staff of Bankruptcy Law Center can explain in more detail to help you fully understand your rights.

In addition to these violations, there is the chance that you are a victim of bankruptcy discharge violations. If either a collection agency or collection law firm has continued to contact you and request payments on a debt that was discharged in bankruptcy, your rights have been violated.

In fact, filing bankruptcy protects you from these attempts by collection agencies and law firms to collect on a debt. If they have continued to collect on a bankruptcy discharge, they could owe you money. If you have experienced this, contact BLC Law Center immediately.

If you have experienced false or disputed items on your credit report or if your report was accessed by either an unauthorized person or company, you could be a victim of a credit card violation. Don’t worry. Bankruptcy Law Center is here to help you.

If you have experienced any of these scenarios or if you feel that you were mistreated and able to provide that a debt collector violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you maybe entitled to receive up to $1,000 in statutory damages, reimbursement for actual damages as well as lawyer’s costs and fees.

No matter the situation, call BLC Law Center today at 619-894-8831.