Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Information on Fair Debt Collection
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, regulates the behavior of debt collectors while they are collecting debt. While some states also have their own laws regarding debt harassment, creditor harassment, and any other type of collection harassment, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act remains the main framework for all fair debt collection laws.
Fair collection regulations such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act limit a debt collector’s communications with both the debtor and third parties such as the debtor’s neighbors, employers, and family members. Communication, as concerning the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, is the conveyance of debt information directly or indirectly to any person through any medium.
Fair debt collection laws allow for limited communication between the debt collector and persons other than the debtor. The debt collector’s communications with a third party can only involve procuring the debtor’s location information. Furthermore, the debt collector must identify his or her self, state that he or she is correcting or confirming location information, and may not identify his or her employer unless explicitly asked to do so. No communication with third parties can be made that indicates that the purpose of the communication regards a debt being owed by the consumer. It violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the debtor’s privacy. Lastly, the debt collector may usually only contact a third party once for location information.
If and when a debt collector has been informed that an attorney is representing the debtor, following the dicta of fair debt collection laws, the debt collector communicates with that attorney now regarding the debt and not the debtor. Should the attorney fail to respond to the debt collector within a reasonable amount of time, the debtor then forfeits this particular protection afforded to him or her by The FDCPA. The courts determine on a case-by-case basis what constitutes a reasonable time.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also states that a debt collector may not communicate with the debtor at an unusual time or place. Most of the time, phone calls before 8:00 am and after 9:00 pm to the debtor’s location are considered inconvenient. Once the debt collector has learned which times and places to make contact are inconvenient to a specific debtor, they are to avoid these times and places when making contact with that debtor. Additionally, if a debt collector knows that making contact at a debtor’s place of employment would be frowned upon by the debtor’s employer, such contact is prohibited.
Several exceptions have been made to these privacy laws established by fair debt practices. One example concerns contact with third parties. If a debtor gives permission directly to the debt collector, or a court that has jurisdiction over the matter gives permission, or if it is reasonably necessary for post judgment judicial remedies, a debt collector may contact a third party for further information-collecting purposes. Otherwise, debt collectors have no reason to contact a third party again.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act established these communication laws for two purposes. First, they ensure a debtor’s privacy and discourage collection harassment. Secondly, they also preserve the good reputation of debt collectors from those would abuse their debt collecting position.