Legal Definitions - Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a law that protects consumers from harassment by debt collectors. Debt collectors are people or companies hired to collect money that is owed to someone else. The FDCPA sets rules for how debt collectors can contact consumers and what they can say to them.

Some examples of what debt collectors are not allowed to do under the FDCPA include:

• Calling consumers before 8 AM or after 9 PM, unless the consumer agrees to it
• Continuing to contact a consumer after they have asked the debt collector to stop
• Discussing a consumer's debt with anyone else, like their family or friends
• Threatening or deceiving a consumer in order to collect a debt

If a debt collector breaks any of these rules, the consumer can sue them for damages and attorney fees.

For example, if a debt collector calls a consumer at 7 AM every morning and refuses to stop even after the consumer asks them to, that would be a violation of the FDCPA. The consumer could sue the debt collector for damages and attorney fees.

Another example would be if a debt collector tells a consumer that they will go to jail if they don't pay their debt, even though that is not true. This would also be a violation of the FDCPA.