FEDERAL LAW OVERVIEW

Federal Law makes it illegal for a collection agency or bill collector to use any unfair or deceptive method when attempting to collect a debt. The law requires that any collector provide you with specific information about your rights and always inform you that they are attempting to collect a debt. When a collector breaks the law they must pay you any actual money damages as a result of the unfair treatment, pay you fines and penalties and pay for your reasonable attorney's fees for proving the violation of the law. This permits us to provide consumers that have been treated unfairly with 100% free legal help. You pay nothing, the collectors that broke the law pay our bill.

Congress determined that “There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors” and that “Abuse debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy” and passed THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT (15 U.S.C. § § 1692) which is often called the FDCPA. The entire purpose of this law is to stop the abuse and unfair methods used by bill collectors and collections agencies when trying to collect a debt. You can read the text of the law here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf

The law requires that a bill collector may NOT:

• contact you at an usual time or place or before 9:00 am or after 8:00 pm
• contact you if they you are represented by a lawyer and they are or should be aware of that
• contact you at work
• do anything which is designed to harass, oppress or abuse you in collecting a debt

Some examples in the law itself are:

• threatening violence or any other criminal actions to harm you or your reputation
• use of obscene or abusive language
• publishing a list of people claims to have not paid debts
• advertising to sell a debt to get you to pay
• making repeated phone calls with the intent to harass or annoy you
• calls when the caller does not properly identify him or herself

Make false or misleading statements including being dishonest about:

• the amount owed
• claiming that by not paying you will be arrested
• claiming that your wages will be garnished

If a debt collector has violated the law, the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) permits an individual to recover any actual damages resulting from the improper conduct of the collectors. Types of actual damages which have been recovered in these types of actions are for out of pocket expenses. Examples of out of pocket expenses include a reduced credit rating , loss of job, loss of income, loss of promotion at work, medical or counseling expenses, phone toll charges, payments made on a debt you did not owe, transportation expenses, bank charges and any other related expenses. Other types of actual damages people have recovered are for stress related injuries. Examples of some stress related injuries are anxiety, depression, headaches, irritability, embarrassment, humiliation, crying, loss of appetite, loss of weight, loss of sleep, insomnia, nightmares, severe stress, hypertension and loss of concentration. Additionally some people have recovered for injuries to personal relations. Examples are injury to reputation, loss of privacy, strain to marriage, strain to family and humiliation.

In addition to any actual damages, which are often difficult to prove in these cases, the FDCPA permits an award of statutory damages, or a penalty, of up to $1,000.00 for an individual who is treated unfairly and up to the lesser of $500,000.00 or one percent of the collectors net worth in a class action suit. Depending on the nature of the violation of your rights and depending on the State where you live, punitive damages and a variety of different remedies may be available. Contact us today for more information about your specific rights.

The list above contains just some common examples of the unfair tactics used by collectors. It certainly is not a complete list of what the collectors cannot do. Don’t judge your case yourself, leave that to us. If you feel that you have been treated unfairly by a collection agency, bill collector or anyone else trying to collect a debt, contact us for a free, no hassle review of your rights.