Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (Section 804)
Section 4 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act focuses
on how debt collectors are governed by law concerning how they
acquire information on a debtor’s whereabouts. Prior to this
law, (and even after it was signed into legislation) many debt
collectors would set about to embarrass, scare, coerce,
browbeat and harass family members, employers, fellow employees
and friends into divulging information about debtors. Their
tactics caused enough harm that this part of the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act was enacted to bring their disgusting
tactics to a halt.
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SECTION 804 --
ACQUISITION OF LOCATION
INFORMATION
Section
804 requires a debt collector,
when communicating with third
parties for the purpose of
acquiring information about the
consumer's location to (1)
"identify himself, state that
he is confirming or correcting
location information concerning
the consumer, and, only if
expressly requested, identify
his employer"; (2) not refer to
the debt, (3) usually make only
a single contact with each
third party, (4) not
communicate by post card, (5)
not indicate the collection
nature of his business purpose
in any written communication,
and (6) limit communications to
the consumer's attorney, where
the collector knows of the
attorney, unless the attorney
fails to respond to the
communication.
1.
General. Although
the FDCPA generally
protects the consumer's
privacy by limiting debt
collector communications
about personal affairs to
third parties, it
recognizes the need for
some third party contact by
collectors to seek the
whereabouts of the
consumer.
2.
Identification of debt
collector (Section
804(1)). An individual
employed by a debt
collector seeking location
information must identify
himself, but must not
identify his employer
unless asked. When asked,
however, he must give the
true and full name of the
employer, to comply with
this provision and avoid a
violation of section
807(14).
An
individual debt collector
may use an alias if it is
used consistently and if it
does not interfere with
another party's ability to
identify him (e.g., the
true identity can be
ascertained by the
employer).
3.
Referral to debt
(Section 804(2)). A debt
collector may not refer to
the consumer's debt in any
third party communication
seeking location
information, including
those with other
creditors.
4.
Reference to debt
collector's business
(Section 804(5)). A
debt collector may not use
his actual name in his
letterhead or elsewhere in
a written communication
seeking location
information, if the name
indicates collection
activity (such as a name
containing the word "debt,"
"collector," or
"collection"), except when
the person contacted has
expressly requested that
the debt collector identify
himself.
5.
Communication with
consumer's attorney
(Section 804(6)). Once
a debt collector learns a
consumer is represented by
an attorney in connection
with the debt, he must
confine his request for
location information to the
attorney. (See also
comments on section
805(a)(2).)
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- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 801
Remember, I told that the Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act was a short read. Well Section 801, called the Short
Title is barely one paragraph. However, it sets the stage
for how debt collectors can and cannot contact you and
starts the process to help you properly deal with your
debts.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 802
Section 2 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act focuses
on putting a stop to abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt
collection practices and tactics used by many debt
collectors. You should NEVER bow down or cower under to
pressure from any debt collector! You have rights, learn
how to enforce them.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 803
Section 3 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act focuses
on defining terms and clarifying definitions such as debt,
debtor, creditor, overdue obligations, debt collector and
more. This step is critically important especially when you
are talking about paying and collecting debts.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 804
Section 4 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act focuses
on how debt collectors are governed by law concerning how
they acquire information on a debtor’s whereabouts. Prior
to this law, (and even after it was signed into
legislation) many debt collectors would set about to
embarrass, scare, coerce, browbeat and harass...
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 805
Section 5 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act deals
with the parameters of how debt collectors can and cannot
contact debtors. Without this vital section of law in
place, rest assured - debt collectors would be calling you
24 hours a day, at home, on your job, and even at the homes
of your family members, friends and relatives.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 806
Section 6 of the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act deals putting a stop to
abusive and harassing tactics used debt collectors and debt
collection companies. Prior to this section of the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors would use
obscene, profane, or abusive language in an attempt to
collect on past due bills.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 807
Section 7 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
addresses the tactic of using false and misleading
information to collect debts. Debt collectors still use
deceptive schemes such as falsely persuading debtors into
believing their wages are about to be garnished or their
assets are about to be repossessed in order to coerce them
into making payments.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 808
Section 8 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
addresses unconscionable acts by debt collectors designed
to embarrass and shame people who owe money. These mean
spirited debt collectors use embarrassing tricks such as
mailing transparent envelopes and postcards with account
information about the debtor in plain view to any and
everyone who sees the mailing.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 809
Section 9 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
addresses the issue of confirming if the debtor in question
actually owes the alleged debt. If the step wasn’t in place
we would literally fall back in time to the days of the
wild wild west, when people were falsely accused of a
crime, arrested tried and convicted based solely upon
suspicion/intuition.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 810
Section 10 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
eliminates a tremendous amount of debt collection smoke
screens, subterfuge and bait and switch tactics. Let’s say
a debt collector contacts a person who has multiple
accounts assigned to them by the debt collection
company.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 811
Section 11 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
directly impacts how debt collectors can and cannot take
legal action against an alleged debtor. This provision of
the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is extremely crucial
because debt collection companies would file a lawsuit
against you in the next state and force you to appear three
hundred miles from your residence, if the law allowed
it.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 812
Section 12 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
prohibits any party, (i.e., debt collector, creditor, etc.)
from designing and furnishing forms, knowing they are or
will be used to deceive a consumer to believe that someone
other than the creditor is collecting the debt.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 813
Section 13 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act sets
the parameters for placing debt collectors and debt
collection companies on notice. That means if they violate
any portion of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, they
have just subjected themselves to civil liability.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 814
Section 14 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act pretty
much details who is responsible for enforcing the FDCPA. No
debt collection company or debt collector wants to find
themselves on the opposite end of this stick.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 815
Section 15 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
actually deals with reporting and assessing the
effectiveness of the FDCPA and how debt collection
companies are complying with the rules set forth by the
FDCPA.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 816
Section 16 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act makes
a very great consideration for the consumer/debtor. When a
particular state has laws enforce to protect debtors and
those laws are equal to or greater than the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act, those laws preempt the
FDCPA.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 817
Section 17 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives
the states with debt collection laws enforce the right to
enforce those laws. But that provision is only available if
that state’s laws are similar to or better than the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act. If not, the FDCPA takes
effect.
- Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act - 818
Section 18 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act pretty
much acknowledges the day FDCPA officially became an
enforceable law. That was the day debt collectors across
the nation all took a collective gasp for air.
Joel Marks has been helping people get out
of debt and avoid both bankruptcy and foreclosure for over
fifteen years. Utilizing savvy debt counseling, debt management
programs, Federal laws and a team of attorneys, debt
counselors and advisors, he has quietly assisted thousands come
from under the heavy burden debt.
For more information on this topic or any other issue
related to getting out of debt, living debt free, debt
management, debt relief, the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act and stopping debt collectors in
their tracks, please visit www.DebtErasure.com
Source: http://debterasure.com/
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