Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (FDCPA) was enacted to help protect consumers against
predatory collection practices. While this is a very helpful law,
it applies only to 3rd parties in the business of debt collection, not
the original creditor. There are often state laws that expand the
act to the originating creditor. The corresponding law governing
debt collection practices is 225
ILCS 425. If you need to file a complaint against a
collection agency or other debt related organization you can do so at The Illinois
Consumer Credit Complaint Form on the website for the Division of Financial
Institutions for the State of Illinois' Department
of Financial and Professional Regulation. You can also go to Collection Professional's
Licensed by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation in
order to check to see if the collection agency collecting against you
is licensed to do so in Illinois. If they aren't, then they are
violating the Illinois Collection Agency Act if they are attempting to
collect against you and they are in the business of collecting debts.
In addition to filing a complaint with the state of Illinois, you can
also file a complaint with the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC). Also, the FTC has an excellent site
on Consumer
Credit with information regarding the FDCPA as well as the Fair
Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as well as other federal laws that protect
and affect consumers. Additionally, the FTC has a website devoted
to FDCPA.
Summary
of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
To see a copy
of the FDCPA, please click
here as a point of reference. This act was enacted in an
attempt to stop abusive debt collecton practices as well as to
encourage debt collectors to utilize Fair Debt Collection
Practices. As defined by the FDCPA, a third party debt collector
includes those collection agencies that are assigned debts for the
purpose of collecting debt. As a result, these agencies are
subject to the FDCPA unlike original creditors, who have extended
credit to the debtor. Also, once you retain an attorney in
regards to any collection proceeding, the debt collector is required to
contact your attorney, and cannot directly contact you without first
obtaining permission from your attorney.
A debt collector may not harrass you in its attempts
to collect a debt. It may only contact you during reasonable
hours during the day, unless you give permission to be contacted at a
different time. Additionally, a debt collector cannot contact
your employer or other third party about the debt. A debt
collector can only contact third parties to verify your location, but
cannot mention anything about collecting debt at this time. Also,
if you contact them in writing, refusing to pay for the debt and
requesting that they no longer contact you, they are only able to
contact you to inform you that: the collector's attempts to collect
debt are being terminated, that the debt collector or creditor may
invoke special remedies that the collector or creditor may normally
pursue, or that the collector intends to invoke a specific remedy
against you. Any other type of communication would be in
violation of the FDCPA. No one can threaten you when trying to
collect a debt against you. It is illegal for a debt collector to
contact you about a debt via post card.
Once a debt collector first communicates with you
about an attempt to collect debt against you, the debt collector has
the obligation to provide you, within five days of the first
communication regarding the debt, with information that validates the
debt. This validation of the debt includes: the name of the
creditor, the amount of the debt, a statement giving you, the consumer,
30 days to dispute this debt. Once you dispute the debt, the debt
collector must send you a verification of the debt or send you a copy
of a judgment entered against you for the debt. If you request
the information in writing, the debt collector must also inform you of
the original creditor, if the present creditor is not the same.
Even if you do not dispute the debt, the debt collector cannot use this
as evidence of an admission to owing the debt. However, it is to
your advantage to dispute a debt that you do not believe you owe, so
that you can get any relevant information regarding the alleged
debt. If you know you owe some of the debt, but not all, you can
dispute the portion you do not think you owe.
If a debt collector contacts you about a debt you do
not believe you owe, you should request verification of the debt from
that debt collector within 30 days from their first attempt to collect
debt. Make sure to note whether the debt collector has informed
you that they are attempting to collect a debt. Additionally,
note any instances where the debt collector harrasses you about
collection of a debt. If after requesting verification, the
creditor fails to supply you with the information you requested, file
complaints with the Department of Professonal Regulation of your state,
as well as with the FTC. In order to protect yourself from
abusive collection practices if a debt collector continues to try to
collect against you after you dispute the debt, it is best to contact
an attorney to discuss your options on what to do about the debt
collector.