6 Things Debt Collectors Cannot Do

There are certain rules and guidelines that debt collectors must follow when collecting a past due debt. The rules are set forth by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Operating outside of these guidelines can lead to law suites and complaints to the Federal Trade Commission.

Threats

A debt collector cannot call you up and threaten you with jail time for not paying your debts. They also cannot call and threaten you with any type of physical harm. Both of these practices are in violation of the, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (FDCPA). A debt collector cannot threaten to do harm to your reputation or any of your physical property.

Disclosure

When collecting on a past due debt a collector cannot call a third party, someone such as a relative, with no interest in the debt and tell them they are collecting on a past due debt. They can however call a third party with the intent of acquiring information of the whereabouts of a debtor. Normally the debt collector can only contact this third party once, unless the individual has given the debt collector to call back again. Debt collectors can also call a third party if they believe they received some wrong information.

Misleading

A debt collector cannot use any means that are misleading, deceptive or false when they are trying to collect a debt. They cannot pretend they are from the government or they represent an attorney's office when they do not. This too is a violation of the FDCPA. If you receive correspondence from an debt collector the letterhead or stationary cannot give the appearance that it is from an attorney's office when it is not. These acts are misleading and deceptive.

Time

A debt collector cannot call you anytime they feel like it. They must call debtors between the hours of 8:00am and 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time.

Post dated check

If you send a debt collector a post dated check they cannot threaten to deposit the check before the date that is stated on the check. Other information about post dated checks is as follows:

a.
According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: The acceptance by a debt collector from any person of a check or other payment instrument postdated by more than five days unless such person is notified in writing of the debt collector's intent to deposit such check or instrument not more than ten nor less than three busi¬ness days prior to such deposit.

False threats

A debt collector cannot make any threats that they do not intend to carry out or those which they do not have the legal authority to execute.

Source: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf