The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) provides specific legal guidelines under which creditors must conduct their business dealings with debtors. When these guidelines are not met, there is a clause in the FDCPA that provides debtors with the right to sue their creditors for unlawfully threatening, berating, harassing, or intimidating in order to collect a debt.
The FDCPA also sets a standard that collection agencies must operate by if they want to avoid potential lawsuits:
- They cannot contact your family, friends, neighbors, or employer.
- They are not permitted to call before 8 A.M. or after 9 P.M. in your time zone.
- They may not use racial slurs, obscenities, insults, or unreasonable threats are out of the question.
- They may not pretend to be an attorney or court employee, or create any communication that would look like it came from one if they do not hold the legal credentials.
- They cannot have you arrested for your unpaid debt.
If you find stress from your debt coupled with the stress of communication from collectors, it is your right to have them stop contacting you regarding the debt, as long as the collector is a third party and not the original lender of the loan. There is a stipulation in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that if you notify a collection agency in writing that you no longer want to discuss this debt with them, the agency can no longer communicate with you except to either a.) advise you that collection efforts have been stopped or will be stopped or b) to inform you that they intend to take legal action against you to resolve the debt.
The letter you send stating this request should include the following:
- Your name, address, and account number on the statement you received from them
- The date
- A statement that you’re exercising your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
- A specifically worded statement explaining that you no longer wish to be contacted concerning this debt
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