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| Know Your Rights |
The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act protects you from predatory debt collectors. It closely regulates lenders and the collectors who work for them. It and other laws prohibit the use of abusive, deceptive and other unfair practices when attempting to collect a debt.
Here are some answers to some questions that you may have in regards to collection calls you may be receiving:
How do I stop debt collectors from contacting me?
In order to stop collection calls at home you must send a stop calling letter to the collector. Stopping calls at work can be a verbal or written notification.
Another powerful tool for stopping harassing phone calls is to record the phone conversation. Inform the caller at the beginning of the call that you are taping the call as evidence for filing a formal complaint with the State Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission. If your phone system does not have a way to record conversations, purchase an inexpensive cassette tape or digital type answering machine capable of recording several minutes and that allows recording while on the phone. Another option, if your phone has a speaker option, is to place it in this mode and use a regular or hand-held tape recorder to tape the conversation. ALWAYS inform the caller at the beginning of the call that you taping the call.
When can they call?
Unless you give debt collectors permission to do otherwise, they can only contact you under specific conditions and during certain times of the day:
- They can contact you at your place of residence by phone, mail, in person, by FAX or email during reasonable hours such as between 8 am and 9 P.M.
- They cannot contact you at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to you.
- They cannot contact you at work if your employer disapproves and they are informed of this fact by you or your employer.
How many times a day can they call?
According to the FTC's published interpretation of the FDCPA, collectors cannot continuously call you. Section 806(5) prohibits contacting the consumer by telephone "repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number." Continuously means making a series of telephone calls, one right after the other. "Repeatedly" means calling with excessive frequency under the circumstances.
Can they call my cell phone?
The short answer is yes! If you provided your cell number on the credit application or to the creditor as a means of contacting you, then collectors can call your cell phone. The only way to stop them from calling you on your cell phone (or any other phone) is to send a stop calling letter.
Who can they call?
Section 805(b) -- Communication with Third Parties
Unless you consent, or a court order or section 804 permits, "or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a post-judgment judicial remedy," debt collectors "may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than you, your attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, your creditor, the attorney of the creditor, and the attorney of the debt collector."
Section 805(b)1. Consumer consent to the third party contact. Your consent to third party contact does not have to be writing. For example, if third parties volunteer that you have authorized them to pay on your account, then the debt collector may normally presume your consent, and accept the payment and provide a receipt to the party that makes the payment. However, consent may not be inferred only from your inaction when the debt collector requests such consent.
Section 805(b)2. Location information. Although a debt collector's search for information concerning the consumer's location (provided in section 804) is expressly excepted from the ban on third party contacts, debt collectors may not call third parties under the pretense of gaining information already in his possession.
Section 805(b)3. Incidental contacts with telephone operator or telegraph clerk. Debt collectors may contact an employee of a telephone or telegraph company in order to contact the consumer, without violating the prohibition on communication to third parties, if the only information given is that necessary to enable the collector to transmit the message to, or make the contact with, the consumer.
Collectors are allowed to call third parties to verify location information. This means they can call your family, friends, neighbors and employer. However, the information they reveal about you and themselves and the questions they can ask is strictly limited by the FDCPA. When contacting third parties they must identify themselves but not state that you owe any debt; they can say that they are confirming or correcting information they have about your location, address, phone number, and employer only. Also, only if expressly requested to do so, can they identify who they work for.
Stopping Collection Calls at Work
First of all, collectors should only call someone other than you at work to verify your employment. Discussing your debt or any other personal information is illegal! They are allowed to call you at your place of employment if they have not been told your employer prohibits such calls.
If your employer objects to collectors calling the workplace, either you or your employer must inform collectors of the "no call policy". This can be verbally or in writing (the FDCPA supports verbal notification). Once informed, any additional calls to your work place violates the FDCPA and opens the collector up to a lawsuit.
We Know Your Rights and You Should Too!
Certain state laws work to your advantage during the time it takes a foreclosure to go through. When we work with you, we will put these laws to work so that you realize the full benefit and protection they provide.
The laws involved in a foreclosure are complex and can be downright confusing. Do you know the ins and outs of foreclosure law in your state? We can help you understand all the options available to you.
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