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UNDERSTANDING THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT

So you've been reading this site for a while perhaps but still don't fully understand the FDCPA or how it actually protects you. This section will cover the Act and interpretations of it by the Federal Trade Commission along with our own to help you better understand how to use it. The FDCPA was enacted in 1977

Why do we need the FDCPA?
Because it's obvious there is abuse, harassment and coercion in the business of collecting debts. Without this Act, collection agencies could literally drive you to financial and mental ruin. Here is the purpose:

§ 802. Congressional findings and declarations of purpose [15 USC 1692]
(a) There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy.

(b) Existing laws and procedures for redressing these injuries are inadequate to protect consumers.

(c) Means other than misrepresentation or other abusive debt collection practices are available for the effective collection of debts.

(d) Abusive debt collection practices are carried on to a substantial extent in interstate commerce and through means and instrumentalities of such commerce. Even where abusive debt collection practices are purely intrastate in character, they nevertheless directly affect interstate commerce.

(e) It is the purpose of this title to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.

Who is covered by the FDCPA
Third party debt collectors are generally covered by the Act. Anyone who regularly attempts to collect debts in the course of their business is a debt collector. Generally, the FDCPA applies only to "debt collectors." The core portion of the FDCPA's Section 803(6), 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6), defines "debt collector" as any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another.

The Act does not cover original creditors (be sure to check your own state law because there are exceptions). However some creditors are now employing third party debt collectors before the debt is actually charged off in hopes to escape the FDCPA. This doesn't work however according to the Commission's view.