NO.  The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) contains important restrictions on how and when a debt collector can contact you:

• They cannot contact you at any time or place that they know or should know is inconvenient for you.  Unless they are told otherwise, they can assume that your convenient times are only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.  If these or any other times are inconvenient, let them know!
• They generally cannot contact you at all if they know you are represented by a lawyer and they have your lawyer’s contact information.
• They cannot contact you at your place of employment / job location if they know or should know that your employer prohibits you from receiving such communications there.

Click on the titles to the following additional articles for more information on getting the debt collectors to stop calling:

Debt Collectors Won’t Stop Calling – What Should I Do?

Debt Collectors Are Contacting My Family And Friends – Can I Get Them To Stop?

In most cases, YES.  The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) strictly limits how a debt collector can deal not only with you, but with your family, friends, neighbors and others.

The only persons a debt collector can communicate with about your debt are you, your lawyer, a credit reporting agency, the creditor, or their lawyers.  They can also contact others if they are trying to locate you, but they cannot tell those people that you owe a debt or send them any communications that indicate they are a debt collector.  They generally cannot communicate with anyone else about your debt unless you expressly give them permission, a court allows them to, or they are seeking to collect on a judgment they have obtained against you in court.

Also, they cannot even communicate with you once you tell them to stop – click here for more information on telling them to stop.  Also, once you tell them that you are represented by a lawyer regarding that debt and give them your lawyer’s contact information, they generally cannot communicate directly with you anymore, but can only work through your attorney.  This is one very effective way to stop further communications from a debt collector.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA for short, is a federal law that applies in all states.  It provides certain rights to consumers by restricting the time, place and methods that debt collectors can use in trying to collect on debts.  As part of this, it is intended to prevent abusive debt collection tactics.

Some people think that the FDCPA applies to all debt collectors.  Although certain provisions apply generally, many of the protections under the FDCPA apply only to certain people and companies.  For example, it applies to consumer debt (where the debt arises primarily for personal, family or household purposes), rather than commercial debt.

It obviously covers debt collection agencies.  However, some people don’t realize that it also covers lawyers that regularly collect debts.  Many of the lawyers that we see in Central Florida (including Seminole County, Orange County, Brevard County, Volusia County and Lake County) do indeed “regularly collect debts”, and are therefore bound by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  Some of those lawyers have filed thousands of debt collection lawsuits, and many derive most of their income from collecting debts.

The FDCPA specifically exempts certain categories of people and companies from many of its requirements.  Examples of those to whom the FDCPA does not typically apply are original creditors suing in their own name, corporate affiliates, government officers and process servers.  This does NOT mean there are no legal requirements for those people; it’s just that those legal requirements arise from laws other than the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.