Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act
Did you know that, as a consumer there is a law in place
designed to protect you from harassment, abusive tactics,
false, misleading and unethical tricks of debt collectors?
That's right! It’s called the (FDCPA) The Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act.
This federal law is so potent; debt collectors cross their
fingers and hope and pray that you never find out about it.
Why? There are three crucial reasons:
It sets the parameters and boundaries on the information
debt collectors can gather on you.
It contains specific rules on how debt collectors can
communicate with you whether at home or at work.
It sets rules in place that literally prohibit debt
collection companies from contacting you.
Before you do anything, you need to read the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act in its entirety. DO NOT proceed any
further until you do so. It’s a short read so you should be
able to complete it one sitting. Why read the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act?
First, to get your sanity back! Debt collectors will turn
your life into a living nightmare… IF YOU ALLOW THEM! By the
time debt collectors are done with the average American debtor,
that person is tittering on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
They are afraid to answer their own phone, pick up their mail,
answer the door, go outside and even go to work. You don’t have
to live like that. Use the resources on www.Debterasure.com and
learn how to fight back!
Secondly, to determine if there is a possibility that you
are a victim of unfair or illegal debt collection schemes
and/or tactics. We dare say, based on the statistics and the
alarming number of complaints and lawsuits filed against debt
collectors, you probably are. If they have violated the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act, the tide has turned; they may
now OWE YOU MONEY!
Thirdly, to learn what you can do, (according to the law) to
stop the phone calls, dunning letters, abuse and
harassment.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is divided into 18
sections. I’ll repeat this again, DO NOT proceed any further
until you read each section in its entirety. After reading it,
if you believe your rights have been violated, take the facts
of your complaint and contact an attorney that understands the
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act explicitly and specializes
in fighting for the rights of consumers. Ok, are you ready?
Then let's get started...
- 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. But thankfully, this section of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act sets clear boundaries on how and when they can communicate with you. Did you know that a debt collector cannot call you at work if you follow the steps outlined in this section?
- 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. They would also use racial and sexual epithets, and publish lists with the names of people who allegedly owed them money. But those days are over… if you know your rights! If not, rogue debt collectors are sure to bend the rules.
- 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. They use other tricks such as falsely leading debtors to believe they are attorneys or that they are officials from the courts. All of these unethical tactics are prohibited according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
- 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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