The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is complicated. However, it was created to protect consumers. This is a guide on the do's and don'ts of the FDCPA and also FAQ's regarding the Act.

1. Fair Debt Collection
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Practices Act
Protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive and harassing
debt collection practices

2. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) statute of
limitations were enacted to protect consumers from unfair,
deceptive and harassing debt collection practices.
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3. A Debt Collector Must:
• Identify who they are to you and advise them at each and every
communication that the communication is coming from a debt
collector, and any information obtained will be used for purposes of
debt collection.
• Send written correspondence to your home address within 5 days of
the first communication identifying who they are, who they are
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collecting on behalf of, and the balance owed.
• In addition, the correspondence must advise you that you have the
right to dispute the debt, and has 30 days to demand that the debt
collector validate the debt.
• If you seek the validation, then discontinue all attempts to collect
the debt until such time as the debt collector provides verification.
• In the event of obtaining a post dated payment instrument, provide
you written notice of the intent to deposit the post dated
instrument.

4. A Debt Collector Cannot:
• Call you before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. or at any time or that they
are given notice that it is inconvenient to call
• Tell other people (friends, family, neighbors) about you owing a debt.
• Call your work if you have advised them, or they have been
advised, that you cannot accept these calls at work.
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• Use profane language or any language that is harassing and abusive
• Engage in any conduct, the natural consequence of which is to
harass, abuse or oppress.
• Make any misrepresentations of fact to you, such as how much you
owe, or certain actions they may take to force you to pay them
• Threaten arrest or criminal prosecution
• Send false information to the credit bureaus
• Cause your phone to ring an unreasonable amount of times

5. What You Can Recover
• The FDCPA allows these 3 things to be recovered by you
• Make the collectors stop contacting you.
• Recover any actual damages suffered, and/or a statutory damage
of up to $1,000
• Attorneys fees and court costs.
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6. FAQ’S
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7. FAQ’s
• Frequently asked questions from our clients
• Is anyone who collects a debt considered a debt collector?
• Do all debts fall under the protection of the FDCPA?
• Can collectors call my family, friends or co-workers?
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• Are there limits to times and places that a debt collector can call me?
• How do I know if what a collector is doing is harassment?
• Do they have to tell me who they are and disclose their company
name?
• Can a debt collector threaten to sue me or garnish my wages?
• Can a debt collector threaten me with criminal prosecution?
• Can a debt collector get a post dated check from me?
• Can a debt collector charge me extra fees?
• If I demand that the collector validate my debt, don't they have to?

8. Is anyone who collects a debt
considered a debt collector?
• No! A debt collector is a company that regularly engages in
the collection of debts for another.
• That means that the original creditor is not a collector for
purposes of this law. If a new creditor buys the debt from
your original creditor, that new creditor can be deemed a debt
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collector if they bought the debt after the account was already
in default.
• Any person or company that takes on collecting a delinquent
debt for the creditor is a debt collector.

9. Do all debts fall under the protection
of the FDCPA?
• No, only consumer debts, which is defined as those engaged
in for personal, family or household purposes.
• Business debts are not covered and you have no protection for
collectors of business debts under this Act.
• There is also the requirement that the debt be one that was
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transacted for as opposed to being involuntarily placed upon
you.
• That means debts such as parking tickets or municipal fines are
not covered.

10. Can collectors call my family, friends
or co-workers?
• A debt collector can make a call to a family member, friend,
relative, or neighbor in order to seek your location
information.
• That is all they can do, and they can only call a person once.
• They may not, however, disclose that you owe a debt to
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anyone at any time.
• Also, if a collector is advised that you cannot take any calls at your
place of employment, they may not call there at all.

11. Are there limits to times and places that a
debt collector can call me?
• The only limit actually placed on collectors by law is that they
cannot call before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.
• However, a debt collector cannot call you at any time that is
known by them to be inconvenient.
• The debt collector would be violating the law if they ignored a
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request, such as no calling on Sunday or if you advise them you
work a night shift and sleep certain day hours.

12. How do I know if what a collector is
doing is harassment?
• There is no set rule on what is or what is not harassment.
• What may be harassment to some may not be to others.
• Profanity, obscenity and inflammatory remarks are not allowed.
• If a collector is causing your phone to ring a large amount of
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times (several times in a day) just for the purpose of annoying
you, that would be harassment.

13. Do they have to tell me who they are
and disclose their company name?
• A collector must make meaningful disclosure of their
identity. They cannot hide who they are.
• A collector should give you a name (though many do use aliases
to protect their identity and this is legal) and the name of the
company they care calling you from.
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• If a debt collector will not identify their company name or is at all
reluctant to tell you, chances are they are not a legitimate
company collecting a legitimate debt.

14. Can a debt collector threaten to sue
me or garnish my wages?
• A debt collector cannot threaten to take any action at all that
they do not truly intend to take.
• Typically, the decision to file a lawsuit is left to attorneys.
• If a non-attorney debt collection agency that does not even own
the debt is making a threat, chances are, it is an empty one.
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• With the exception of debts collected for the U.S.
Government, no collection agency can garnish your wages unless
they have a judgment against you.
• A judgment cannot be had against you until you have been served
with a lawsuit.
• If a collector is threatening to immediately garnish your wages and
you have not even been sued yet, then such a threat is improper.

15. Can a debt collector threaten me with
criminal prosecution?
• A debt collector cannot imply that you have committed a
crime in order to abuse you and coerce you to make a
payment.
• Debt Collectors are not legal authorities and cannot say whether
what you did was a crime and cannot say or make any
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determination that you should be prosecuted.

16. Can a debt collector get a post dated
check from me?
• A debt collector can solicit a post dated check.
• However, when doing so, they may not deposit the check early.
• Also, if the check is post dated by more than 5 days, they must
give you written notice of their intent to deposit the check at
least 3 days before it is deposited.
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17. Can a debt collector charge me extra
fees?
• A debt collector cannot charge you anything more than the
debt that is owed.
• While many debts collect interest as long as the balance is
unpaid, the debt collector cannot add its own costs
• UNLESS it is part of your agreement with the original contract, or
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allowed by some other law (such as a state law allowing collection
fees on unpaid medical bills).

18. If I demand that the collector validate
my debt, don't they have to?
• Not always.
• The collector must give you notice of your right to seek
validation of the debt within 5 days of their original contact
with you.
• That notice must provide you 30 days to seek validation and it
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must be requested in writing.
• If you request validation of the debt within 30 days of receiving
their notice of your right to seek validation, then the collector
must provide that validation before it can continue its collection
attempts.
• Any demand for validation outside of that period or done orally
does not necessarily require a response.

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