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Debt Cafe Resource Directory
Monday, October, 6th, 2008 |
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Debt Collection
The debt collector is still a feared force in today's society. If you owe money and having been keeping up your payments you probably should be afraid; that they will repossess your car or foreclose on your mortgage. They have the right to demand payment and the right to take legal action against you for unpaid accounts. But debt collection agencies do have rules to follow and if they fall afoul of these regulations they could be penalized, fined or even put out of business.
Consumers, even those who owe lots and lots of money, are protected by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It provides legislative and administrative assistance to consumers and borrowers that since 1996 that feel that they have been unfairly treated by debt collection agencies and it also provides a set of guidelines that all these companies must follow.
The basic elements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act are to:
· eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors,
· ensure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged,
· and to promote consistent state action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.
There are restrictions in the Act on how, when and where a debt collector can contact a person in arrears. They include:
· having to identify themselves
· not automatically assuming that the person they reached actually owes the money
· not having identifying marks on the outside envelope of any mailed materials or letters
· not communicating by postcard. These restrictions also specify that collection agencies must contact you at a convenient time, not before nine in the morning or after eight at night, not supposed to contact you at your place of business or work, and if you have an attorney identified to represent you that they are supposed to contact them and not you to deal with a debt collection issue.
If you feel that you are being treated unfairly by a debt collection process you can contact the Fair Debt Collection Practices representatives at the Federal Trade Commission.
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