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.
The remainder of this article
plus many more credit repair and debt collection defense articles along
with the credit repair debt collection success strategies ebook, sample
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