Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
A Levels Academy Islamabad
Transcript
00:00L-O-L, B-T-W, I-R-L, O-M-G—there's a lot of initials out there in the world.
00:07Tough keeping track of them all.
00:09But if you're involved in a case against a debtor, the initials F-D-C-P-A are the most important letters you should know.
00:16F-D-C-P-A stands for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
00:21It's a federal consumer protection law that gives legal protection against abusive debt collection practices.
00:27In other words, even though you may be in debt to a collector, it doesn't mean the collector is without boundaries pursuing the debt.
00:34Being in debt doesn't mean you don't have any rights.
00:37The types of debts covered by the F-D-C-P-A are household debts, automobile debts, medical debts, and credit card debts, to name a few.
00:46Yes, a collector can contact someone through mail, telephone, telegram, or fax.
00:52But under the F-D-C-P-A, there are a number of things collectors cannot do, such as contact you at an inappropriate time, namely before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you allow them to.
01:05Collectors also can't contact you at work once you tell them it's unacceptable or prohibited by your employer.
01:11You can also send a letter telling the collector to stop contacting you, which they must do.
01:16Collectors cannot say that what they are giving you are court documents or have other legal consequences, unless that's true.
01:23In fact, they can't lie to you about anything.
01:26And, of course, collectors cannot threaten or abuse debtors in any way, shape, or form.
01:32The F-D-C-P-A is there to protect you from harassment and intimidation by credit collectors.
01:38And LegalYou is there to help you with using the F-D-C-P-A to fend off abusive collectors.
01:44LegalYou. You can do this.