If your rising debt has become a constant source of trouble and debt collectors are causing harassment in your daily life, then you must be aware of the debt collection laws that are meant to protect you. Even if these laws do not help you in debt elimination, awareness about them will help protect you from the ill treatment that some debt collectors resort to.
The FDCPA or the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act is a law that governs how debt collectors can and cannot collect debt from you. It protects you from the unethical and the illegal debt collection practices of debt collectors.
Some of the questions that the law answers for you are as follows.
Can the collector contact you if you think you do not owe any money?
A debt collector is not supposed to contact you if you do not think that you owe him money. For this you have to send a letter 30 days after you receive the notice. This letter should be sent to the collection agency and should state that you do not owe any money. However, the collection activities can be renewed if the collector is successful in providing a proof of the debt that you owe.
How can you stop the collector from contacting you?
You can write a letter to the debt collector and ask them to stop contacting you. After receiving this letter the debt collectors will not contact you and even if they do it will only be to inform you that there will be no further contact. The collector may also contact you to tell you that some specific action will be taken against you. However, it is very important for you to remember that sending such a letter does not make your debts vanish magically. If you owe the money, then you will have to pay it eventually.
Can your debt collector contact a third party to collect your debt?
The debt collector is not to contact a third party regarding your debt. Only if you have an attorney, then your debt collector may contact the attorney instead of you. If you are a minor your parents can be contacted. However, a debt collector may contact third parties to find out your address or your phone number. The debt collectors are permitted to contact these third parties for such information only once. In usual cases the debt collector is not supposed to contact any one except you and your attorney regarding your debt.
The answers to these questions should make it clear that the law is there to protect you against any harassment from creditors.