Creditor and Debt Collector Harassment - Know the Laws

Reader question: "I have been receiving a lot of abusive and harassing phone calls from debt collectors regarding an unpaid debt I owe for a store credit card. I know these people are not known for being friendly, but I truly feel they have gone over the line. What can I do about debt collector harassment from a legal standpoint?"

Unfortunately, your question is a common one. We receive a lot of e-mails regarding debt collectors and the kinds of techniques they use. While I cannot generalize that all collection agencies are dirty, I can say there are plenty of bad apples in this bunch. Many of these companies resort to various methods of harassment in order to get the debtors to pay.

Debt Collection Harassment & What You Can Do

Fortunately, there is plenty you can do to stop this kind of harassment from creditors and/or debt collectors, so let's talk about that.

The first thing you need to do is review a piece of legislation called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA for short. This is the law that governs what collection agencies can and cannot do when trying to recover a debt. As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of bad apples in this particular bunch. As a result, the government has frequently stepped in to create legal guidelines for the debt collector industry.

The branch of government that enforces this law is the Federal Trade Commission, commonly referred to as the FTC. This agency has a very informative website through which you can learn about debt collector harassment (and the laws that are designed to prevent it).

It's important to understand the stipulations of this law, because that's the only way to know if a creditor or collection agency has violated the rules. You must learn what is allowed and what's not allowed, so you can know when the line has been crossed.

What Creditors and Collectors Cannot Do

Here are some of the things a debt collector cannot do when trying to collect from a debtor.

• Debt collectors cannot threaten you in any way. In particular, they cannot use garnishment of wages or any other legal action as an intimidation tactic. They might be able to garnish your wages, if such an action were approved by a judge. But they cannot use it as a verbal threat or an intimidation tactic.
• For example, a debt collector cannot call me on the phone and say, "You need to pay this bill or we will sue you in court, and you might even go to jail." That constitutes verbal harassment under the FTC guidelines, and is therefore not allowed.
• Debt collectors cannot call you early in the morning or late at night. I don't want to cite the exact time windows in this article, because it has changed in the past and it may change again. You can visit the FTC's website to find out about these times.
• A debt collector may not call you at work. This is one of the most common forms of harassment that consumers complain about, along with various threats being given.
• If you make a written request that the collection agency stop contacting you altogether, they must honor that request. If they call you after you have submitted such a request, they are in violation of federal law.
• Calling many times in a single day, or using abusive language and profanity, is another violation. This kind of harassment is not tolerated by the FTC or any other enforcement body.
• Creditors and collectors may not tell other people about the debts you owe. For example, they cannot share information about you with your neighbors or coworkers, as an attempt to embarrass you into paying. This prohibited by law.
  

The FTC is serious about enforcing these laws. Just last month, I read a news release on their website about a debt collection company that admitted to violating federal law. As a result, they had stiff fines imposed upon them -- upwards of $220,000.

As long as we have debt collectors, we will have cases of harassment associated with them. That's just the kind of industry this is. In my opinion, people do not go into this line of work by choice. Who wants to sit in a cubicle all day long, calling people about unpaid debts? Add in the fact that they are talking to people who don't want to deal with them (debtors), and you have all the ingredients for a potential harassment scenario. Hey, it is what it is.

The best thing you can do is learn about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the types of debt collector harassment it outlaws. You can also make a complaint through the FTC website, or by using the toll-free hotline they have set up for that purpose.

Related Q&A Sessions:

• Can creditors garnish my wages for unpaid debt?
• Can a collection agency sue me for a debt I owe?
• Can a credit card company sue me?
• Dealing with debt collectors the right way
  
• A debt collector threatened to sue my daughter

I hope you have found this article helpful in stopping harassment from creditors. And remember, the best way to get these people "off your trail" is to pay what you owe!