Are you in treated unfairly by creditors?

Did you know that it is against the law for creditors to harass you for money? The Fair Debt Collection Act is designed to help protect individuals from being harassed by their creditors. While this does not always stop them, most creditors will not run the risk of being sued, especially from the people who owe them money. Breaking the law is breaking the law and no judge would look at that favorably.

The Clauses under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Knowledge is power and that is certainly true with the FDCPA. The clauses under the Act include:

• Clause 804 - Gathering Debtors Location Information from third party Contacts
• Clause 805 - Collection Calls and Communication Rules
• Clause 806 - Harassment And Abuse Tactics
• Clause 807 - False and Misleading Tactics

Gathering Debtors Location Information 3rd Party Contacts

This clause states that it is against the law for creditors to contact third parties in order to harass or to intimidate you. They can contact third parties if they do not have your phone number, correct location or any other contact information that they need. The third party has to be either:

• A Friend
• A Relative
• An Employer
• A Neighbor

If they choose to involve anybody else, they are breaking the law and they can end up being sued for civil penalties. The Creditors cannot inform the third parties that you owe. They can identify themselves but they cannot talk about your debts.

Collection Calls and Communication Rules

Under Clause 805 in the Fair Debt Collection Act, it states that creditors cannot contact you at inconvenient times. They can contact only before 8.00am and after 9.00pm. However there is an additional clause in this. If the creditor speaks to you between the timings mentioned above you have the option of asking him to call at your convenience. However this does not mean that you can always keep on postponing the process of his visit or from giving the required information on the grounds of inconvineance.

If a creditor calls on a day despite your instruction that it is inconvenient for you to meet him or speak to him in that particular schedule then it is a mistake. These amounts to violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the consequences are severe if they don't stop this practice.

It is not against the law for the creditors to speak to your spouse about your debts as they do not fall under the third party category. Similarly even if you were unmarried when you borrowed money from your creditor he or she has the liberty to discuss the loan obligations with your spouse. If you send a written notice to your creditors saying that you refuse to pay the debt and you want them to terminate their communication you, they cannot mention anything about the debt you owe. They can however, entitle them to claim 'specific remedies' which could include a court judgment.

Harassment and Abuse Tactics

Clause 806 prevents creditors from harassing and abusing you. They are not allowed to continually speak to you over phone and they can not pass your details on to any other creditors. They also cannot publicize your debt. They cannot use racist slurs or threaten you with dire consequences if you fail to pay.

False and Misleading Tactics

Section 807 states that creditors cannot use deceptive tactics to gain their debts. It is pathetic to note that certain companies are following this. Luckily this law protects you. The creditor cannot say that they are involved with any government official. They usually do this to force you to pay. They also cannot lie about the amount owed as some use these tactics to extract more.

They also cannot say that they are going to report you to a credit bureau or assess a collection fee. Any false information amounts to breaking the law so if you feel you are being misled it is important to report it.

There are so many creditors who fail to stick to the law when it comes to claiming their money. However, most incidents go unreported as people are too intimidated by their creditors to do anything. They simply do not know that they are protected under law and that the Fair Debt Collection Act is in practice all over America. There is plenty of information to be found all over the internet on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and people would really benefit from learning more about their rights.

This Act has been of great help in removing unethical practices. However it needs to be kept in mind that many people are not aware about this statute. This has gone a long way in ensuring that debtors cannot be taken for granted.