When Does a Bill Collector Violate Federal Law?
A bill collector violates Federal Law when they do not comply with the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In other words, they could be fined up to $1,000 for each violation. Included are deceptive collection activities. Remember when I wrote about those nasty letters that you put in a drawer until you worked up the courage to read them? There could be many violations on those letters. Until you open and read them however you cannot possible identify any violations. Those letters could be very beneficial to you in your efforts to educate yourself about the system.
When a bill collector calls you at work and he knows that your boss does not allow these type phone calls, he or she is violating the law. If by chance this does happen and you are the one answering the phone then inform the bill collector that your boss does not allow you to take time away from your job to answer calls from bill collectors. Tell them you are invoking your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If they are smart and up to date then they will know not to call you at work again. If they persist and call again simply write down the time, date and name of the person who called you. This is your proof they violated the law.
The bill collector also violates the law when you ask for validation within 30-days after you receive the initial collection notice and they fail to provide you with what you asked for. In some cases a bill collector will not answer you request for validation and simply refer your account to another collector. They think this will get them off the hook, but once you request validation of debt, the bill collector MUST notify the Credit Reporting Agencies that the debt is being disputed. It is when they fail to do this that the violation occurs.
It pays for you to be clever here. Once you have sought debt validation with the 30-day period, it is also a good time to dispute the entry with the Credit Reporting Agencies. If they return your dispute as being verified as accurate, you now know the bill collector never notified the reporting agencies and is in violation of the Fair Debt Reporting Act.
When you are sure this is the case, then simply sue the bill collector in Small Claims Court like I wrote about in an earlier article.
Chuck Lunsford is the owner and developer of EasyFloridaHomeLoans.com. He offers advice on how to get your credit in order and working for you. Visit his website and learn more about choosing the right mortgages in florida.
