Credit Card Articles

The law allows that a bill collector can call a debtor between the hours of 08:00 am and 09:00 pm
of the debtors time zone.

Which simply means that if the collector is calling from the state of Texas, which is in the central time zone and the debtor lives in Florida, which is in the eastern time zone, the Texas collector may only call the debtor after 07:00 am central time and before 08:00 pm central time in order to be in compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

The Collector must call with purpose and intent. In most cases, the purpose is to inform the debtor of the outstanding debt that is owed and the intent is to bring the issue to an amicable resolution.

The Collector must not engage in abusive tactics, profanity, intimidation, threats, illegal coercion or any other method which causes undue duress to the debtor, in attempting to collect past due money.

The Collector must not contact a debtor at their place of employment if the Collector is aware that in doing so may jeopardize the debtors employment.

The Collector may not divulge any details to any person other than the debtor or, in some states, the legal spouse, without the debtors consent.

In most states the Collector must recite a mini Miranda prior to engaging in conversation with a debtor.

A debt collector, upon receiving written notification from a debtor to cease and desist any further communication, must honor such a request.

There are several other laws under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that a Collector must abide by, but the details listed above are the ones that most often get violated by the Collector. Most debtors are unaware that there are such laws that will protect them and, in some cases, compensate them monetarily if the Collector violates such laws.

NOTE: THE PURPOSE OF THIS INFORMATION IS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM UNSCRUPULOUS,
ABUSIVE COLLECTOR TACTICS. THE INFORMATION HERE WILL IN NO WAY ELIMINATE YOUR
OBLIGATION TO SATISFY YOUR JUST INDEBTEDNESS TO YOUR CREDITOR. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT CONFRONTING AND SATISFYING YOUR JUST DEBT IS THE ONLY WAY TO ASSURE A SOLID CREDIT RECORD.