Debt Collection Harassment is Illegal

If you find yourself struggling to make ends meet, you are not alone. Millions of Americans have fallen on hard times and unable to pay on their monthly obligations, which includes; credit card debts, car payments, mortgage payments, etc. Adding to the already stressful situation, you may have already started receiving intimidating phone calls from collection agencies like Portfolio Recovery or NCO Financial. These collection calls can sometimes be abusive, giving you the vulnerable feeling that you have lost all rights because you fell behind on your debts. That’s not true, you do have rights! The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was enacted to protect consumers, like you, from harassing debt collectors. Congress passed the FDCPA to curb actions a third party collector could take against consumers and also send a clear message to collection agencies that abusive tactics will not be tolerated.

Third party collectors are very familiar with the FDCPA laws, yet they have and will continue to over step their boundaries when using tactics that may be deemed illegal. You may ask yourself “why would they take that chance?” The answer is simple, although third party collectors are aware of FDCPA rules and regulations, the general public don’t know they exist and don’t realize they the FDCPA was created to protect consumers. Third party collectors are willing to bend the rules to get their money from uninformed consumers. Common laws that are broken by agencies like Portfolio Recovery and NCO Financial include making repeated phone calls, calling during off hours, calling the workplace, failure to leave a mini-miranda on your voice mail, and making threats.
 
It is important to know who the FDCPA law applies to. It applies to third party collection companies not necessarily to the lending institutes in-house collection department. For example, if you have a delinquent account with Bank of America, BofA may have their internal collection department contact you in an attempt to collect the debt, FDCPA laws don’t necessarily apply to them. If BofA sells off (charge off) the debt to a collection company like Portfolio Recovery or NCO Financial to collect on the debt then they are required to abide by FDCPA rules and regulations. Nonetheless, in-house collection departments still need to keep FDCPA laws in mind as they can find themselves subject to FDCPA laws depending on specific tactics that they use.

When a collection company violates your right as a consumer, it’s time you fight back. An FDCPA attorney can help stop collection agencies from harassing you at home or at work. An FDCPA attorney may also be able to force third party collectors to pay you if they show proof that the collector violated FDCPA laws. It’s a win-win situation for the consumer, and with the right attorney consumers won’t be charged a single penny for their legal services. Collection agencies who violate FDCPA laws are subject to stiff penalties which may include $1,000 paid to consumer in restitution and they are required to pay all legal fees.