The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law that protects consumers from abusive third-party debt collectors. It's been on the books since 1977 and has real teeth — including statutory damages, attorney's fees, and clear rules about what collectors must and must not do.
Collectors can't call before 8am or after 9pm in your time zone. They can't call you at work if your employer prohibits it. They can't repeatedly call to harass. Once you tell them in writing to stop, they generally must.
Collectors can't impersonate attorneys or government agents, threaten arrest or violence, threaten to garnish wages they aren't entitled to garnish, or misrepresent the amount of the debt. Many do these things anyway, but each violation is actionable.
Within 5 days of first contact (or with the first contact), they must give you a written notice with the amount, the original creditor's name, and your right to dispute. Disputing in writing within 30 days requires them to verify before further collection.
A written letter asking the collector to stop contacting you forces them to limit further communication to specific notices (like "we're suing"). Send by certified mail and keep a copy.
FDCPA violations let you recover actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000 per action, plus attorney's fees and costs. Class actions can recover much more. Many consumer attorneys take FDCPA cases on contingency.
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NotALawyer.com provides general legal information, not legal advice.