Are you unable to pay your bills on time? Do you wish to settle them? If yes, you can do so with the help of debt settlement law like the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. When you are unable to repay the debts, your creditors may hand over your accounts to the collection agencies. The collection agencies may adopt unfair means to recover the money from you. You can protect yourself from such harassment by knowing consumer rights guaranteed under the FDCPA.
What are the debts covered under FDCPA?
The debts which are usually covered under Fair Debt Collection Practices Act are:
What Is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
The FDCPA lays down guidelines that the collection agencies(CAs) must follow when they try to recover money from the debtors. Some of the provisions of the FDCPA are considered as the debt settlement law. Few of the restrictions imposed on CAs by the Act are:
CA should not harass you or others: The CAs are not permitted to harass you with phone calls at unreasonable times. They should not call you before 8 am and after 9 pm without prior permission. Apart from the co-signer of your debt, the collectors cannot harass others including your friends, relatives and neighbors.
Should not make false representation: Under the FDCPA, the collectors must not use false claims while trying to collect a debt, such as pretending to be attorneys or government representatives.
Should not threaten you: The law also prohibit debt collectors from using any profane language or threatening to take your property unless it can be done legally. Activities like threatening you of arrest, posing threats to cause physical injury or publicly disgracing you are also prohibited.
Whenever you face problems with collection agencies, you can take help of the FDCPA. The Act also gives you the right to sue the collection agencies in a federal or state court if they violate the guidelines.
