The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
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The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers personal, family, and household debts. This includes money owed for the purchase of an automobile, for medical care, or for charge accounts. If you use credit cards, owe money on a personal loan, or are paying on a home mortgage, you are a debtor. If you fall behind in repaying your creditors, or an error is made on your accounts, you may be contacted by a debt collector.
Either way, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that debt collectors treat you fairly and prohibits certain methods of debt collection. Of course, the law does not erase any legitimate debt you owe. When contacted by a debt collection agency, it is important to know your rights (even if you owe the money).
Within five days after you are first contacted, the debt collection agency must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money you owe; the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money; and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money. A collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you receive the written notice, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money.
However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed. If you owe more than one debt, any payment you make must be applied to the debt you indicate. A debt collector may not apply a payment to any debt you believe you do not owe.
You can stop a debt collection agency from contacting you by writing a letter to the collector telling them to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action. Please note, however, that sending such a letter to a collector does not make the debt go away if you actually owe it. You could still be sued by the debt collector or your original creditor.
If you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact the attorney, rather than you. If you do not have an attorney, a collector may contact other people, but only to find out where you live, what your phone number is, and where you work. Collectors usually are prohibited from contacting such third parties more than once. In most cases, the debt collection agency may not tell anyone other than you and your attorney that you owe money.
Filed under: debt collection
