Rights Provided by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Fair Debt Collection Resources
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, commonly called the FDCPA, prohibits abusive communication and collection harassment tactics that some unethical debt collectors utilize. It is a federal law passed by the Congress of the United States of America, describing the type of information debt collectors may gather on consumers and also providing guidelines for their conduct while going about their debt collection work. Specific rules in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act outline how debt collectors may communicate with consumers at home and at the work place. Such debt collection laws like the Fair Debt Collection Practices ACT protect consumers from debt and credit harassment, abuse, false and misleading communications, and other illegal debt collector tactics that do not work within the framework of fair debt collection regulations.
Debt collectors who go through third party contacts to harass, embarrass, or intimidate a consumer are violating Fair debt collection laws for contacting third parties. A debt collector may only contact a third party to learn location information about a consumer including the consumer's address, phone number, place of employment, physical location, or other means of reaching the consumer.
Typically, a debt collector only contacts a third party concerning a consumer's location information once. After which, unless an exemption has been made due to a judicial hearing or with the consumer's permission, debt collectors have no reason under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to contact the third party again. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits them from doing so.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act further outlines a debt collector's conduct when contacting third parties for purposes of gathering a consumer's location information. A debt collector, according the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, must identify himself or herself to the third party, state clearly that they confirming or correcting the consumer's location information and only if explicitly requested by the third party, identify their employer.
Though created with the need for debt collectors to make third party contact in seeking the consumer's whereabouts in mind, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act still protects the consumer's privacy. Therefore, discussing or providing any information about the consumer other than location information not only goes against the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, but also allows for the consumer to sue the debt collector for civil penalties. However, a consumer's spouse is not considered a third party. Therefore, debt collectors may discuss a consumer's debt with a spouse without worrying about the usual rules of conduct concerning third party contact.
When identifying themselves to a third party contact, a debt collector may use an alias if it is used consistently and does not interfere with another party's ability to identify him or her. For example, the debt collector's employer should still be able to identity the debt collector by his or her true identity regardless of alias. However, if asked by the third party, a debt collector must give his or her employer's full and true name to avoid violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
While contacting a third party concerning a consumer's location information, it remains imperative that a debt collector not tell a third party about the consumer's debt. If an error has been made and the debt is not true, it may damage the consumer's reputation. Furthermore, telling the third party violates the consumer's privacy. By the laws of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a debt collector may not even refer to a consumer's debt while seeking location information from other creditors, who are considered third parties if they are not owed the debt that this collector is seeking payment for.