Know Your Rights: FDCPA

The FDCPA, or Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, is a set of consumer protection guidelines. Third party collection agencies must follow these guidelines in their collections practices, and most companies that don't outsource their collections activities choose to follow these guidelines as well.

The regulations set forth by the FDCPA vary slightly depending on what state you live in. For example, in some states you can only be called at work once a month, while in others you can be called at work every day. All states, however, allow you to verbally request no further calls at your place of employment.

If you wish to not receive collection calls at home, you have to put your request in writing. This is called a "cease and desist" letter.

The FDCPA states that a bill collector may not be verbally abusive, make empty threats, use foul language, or harass you. The FDCPA considers multiple identifying phone calls in one day to be harassment. This doesn't mean that if a bill collector calls you and you don't answer that they can't call you back that day - it means that if the collector identifies their company, either on a voicemail or in a conversation, they may not call you back that same day.

The FDCPA also states what legal actions are available in each state. In Louisiana, for example, a vehicle is sent to the repossession department when it reaches 32 days past due. In most states, this does not happen until the loan goes over 60 days past due.

If you can prove that a company has violated the guidelines set forth in the FDCPA, you can seek legal action. If the collections are "1st party" (not a 3rd party collections agency), make sure the company has chosen to adopt the FDCPA regulations. Most companies have. For example, Citibank, Household Finance, and Capital One all have their own collections departments, but have chosen to follow the FDCPA guidelines.

To read about more about your specific rights under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, visit http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm.

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