The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), was enacted to protect consumers by preventing abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, and to ensure debt collectors who do not engage in abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged by those who do.
Whether the debt is owed or not, debt collectors cannot harass or abuse you or other parties they contact in their attempts to collect a debt.
Debt collection practices that expressly violate the FDCPA include:
- Lying or making false representations about anything in their debt collection communication(s) with you;
- Making any threats to take any action(s) the collector does not have the legal authority to take, or simply does not intend to take;
- Attempting to collect any amount of money that has not been agreed to, incurred, or that are not permitted under state or federal law;
- Contacting third parties regarding the debt, unless solely to obtain contact information where they do not have it and otherwise cannot find it;
- Contacting your place of employment;
- Calling you an unreasonable number of times;
- Calling you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;
- Continuing to contact you regarding the debt after you tell them not to;
- Threats of violence or harm;
- Use of profanity or obscene language.
We can help stop the harassment and abuse. Regardless of whether the debt is owed or not, if you are being harassed by a debt collector, you have rights. If a debt collector violates your rights you may be entitled to damages, in addition to statutory penalties up to $2,000. In addition, if a debt collector has violated your rights under the FDCPA, they will have to pay your attorney fees. Because of this, if you have a good case, LaGuardia Law can bring your case on contingency where you pay nothing upfront to have an attorney fight for your rights.
If you are in California and being pursued by a debt collector and want to discuss whether your rights have been violated, please feel free to contact LaGuardia Law.
