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Threats from Collectors – What Counts

On Behalf of | Aug 29, 2012 | Consumer Protection

Are you receiving threatening calls from collectors?

What constitutes a threat under the law? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from threatening collectors. The FDCPA makes it illegal to do the following:

Call the consumer’s place of work “if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer’s employer prohibits” such calls. If you or anyone at your employment told the collector that such calls are prohibited, the collection calls at your job must stop. If not, the collector is violating 15 U.S.C. §1692c(a)(3) by continuing to call you at work. Discussing your debt to a third party. If the collector is discussing your debt to a third party, whether it is a co-worker, boss, family or friend, they are violating 15 U.S.C. §1692b(2) and 15 U.S.C. §1692c(b). The only reason a collector can call a third party is to confirm or correct location information for the consumer. 15 U.S.C. §1692b(1) Threaten to take legal action that is not intended to be taken or can not legally be taken. If the collector tells you that if you don’t pay today I will sue you tomorrow, but has been saying this for weeks, then that threat is violating the FDPCA because it the threat of a lawsuit was only a scare technique. Using obscene language or language intended to incite the consumer. This includes calling the consumer a deadbeat or loser.
For the FDPCA to be applicable, the caller needs to be a debt collector and not an original creditor. 15 U.S.C. §1692a(6).

If a debt collector continues to call you at work after expressly telling them to stop, you have rights. You can sue them under the FDCPA. For a free case review, contact SmithMarco, P.C. SmithMarco, P.C., has over 30 years of combined experience practicing law protecting the rights of consumers around the country. We can sue on your behalf incurring no out of pocket costs and obtaining up to $1000 for violations. Call today!

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