Debt Collection Act helps to fight illegitimate debt collectors

But this does not apply to the original creditor, just debt collector or CA, right? What happens if the creditor is not following these rules? Who should I report them to?

Original creditors are exempt.Look at your state laws.Another place to look is fair credit reporting act.This law governs how they report on your credit bureaus.

I will do that. Thanks.

cajun, Great information. Something that everyone should be aware of their rights. Thanks for all your hard work. KYSIDE38

kyside38,
:D I have a bunch of this info,still learning rules on size of post,attachments,etc. :oops: I'll get some more once I figure it out!

Thanks for the sticky, Mike.

You are welcome, cajun :)

The technical problem in the website is keeping me very busy for the moment. I am sorry that I didn't post earlier that your topic is included in the special topics of the "Dealing with Collection Agency" forum.

Thanks for your hard work

Regards
Mike

Thank you cajun & Mike!

Thanks for posting this.

This website is part of the FTC

https://www.consumer.gov/

It has loads of information relating to consumer scams and ID Theft.

Good job cajun.This should be perminatly posted somewhere on this site so people can refer to it expecially with the Flux of Internet PDL's that think they dont have to abide by it! way to go!

5mil,this is a sticky and will remain here as long as this site is up.

hey Cajun....this is great info....As soon as I can learn how to hotlink text using this code...I am definitely adding this along with my other attached signature! Thanks for all of this work! I read the entire thing....gr8 stuff

Oh Lord I wish I could remember my html...geezzz haven't written any in yrs. Well as soon as I get the time this link will absolutely be added!

WOW!!! Thank you so much!!! I read the whole thing--it definitely opens your eyes! I wish I had known all this stuff last year!!! I paid over $3000 for ipdls when I only needed to pay $750!!! I am so glad you put this up!!! We have NOTHING to be scared of when it comes to these nasty bloodsuckers!

"But this does not apply to the original creditor, just debt collector or CA, right? What happens if the creditor is not following these rules? Who should I report them to?"

1692(A)(6) states: "the term (debt collector) includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts."

So a creditor can be sued if they use a different name and try to pass themself off as a debt collector. I saw a few cases on lexis where some creditors were sued for implying they were a debt collector. This doesn't apply however to a company that has its own debt collection department, as long as they only service that specific company.

What are the rights of the collecotrs after they get a judgement against someone? What can they do and not do

I depends upon the laws of your state. Some states are more consumer friendly than others.

Generally speaking, though:

Haul you into court every year to acertain your assets
Garnishment of wages
Seizure of property (personal or real)
Seizure of bank accounts

I wrote a letter to a court collection officer who keeps showing up at our house on behalf of Capital One, telling him that under sec. 1692c I was requesting that he stop coming and that we have no assets that are legally collectable. He showed up at the house again and said that that law does not apply after there has been a judgment. Anyone know if this is true?
Also here in Michigan the term Collector does include court officers but I am not sure about the federal law. Anyone know?

Thank you

Bumping this because I do not know for certain if this person would be considered a collector under the fdcpa...

I suspect the real answer would lie in whether or not the FDCPA applies before a judgment, but I've been wrong before. And he did not actually state that the FDCPA applied before, either.

If Michigan law defines him as a collector, and Michigan law gives you the right to send a cease and desist letter, you can always complain to the court and/or your state's attorney general.

Cajun, LawStudent?

Edit: Is this person attempting to serve/enforce a writ? I am certain that changes things.

This one I don't know the answer to right off. However if a court officer is attempting to put a writ of execution on a person he is not a collector in my opinion. He is a officer of the court performing his duties.

What does this court collection officer tell you exactly when he comes to your house? Does he just flash his badge and leave, what does he say to you? Also, did the court have you fill out an asset form stating what your assets are?

I share office space with Pete Barry, who wrote the summary in the original post. Pete probably doesn't mind you posting that here, since his practice is helping consumers by suing debt collectors, but it would be good manners to ask him first. His website is lawpoint.com, where there is a form to e-mail him.

If you do post it, it would be better to attach a PDF version of the original document.

This summary is less useful for consumers than for lawyers. You would do better to read the actual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which you can find easily using Google. Or just go here:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm

It is not long, and is fairly easy to understand.

LVNV has sent my acct to an atty, but I still get up to 5 calls a day from their toll free #. I do not answer and v-mail messages never identify where they are calling from. I know who they are from answering in the past. Anything I can do. I intend to pay the debt, just not as fast as they would like.

???? 1692 d(5) Caused the phone to ring or engaged any person in telephone conversations repeatedly
???? 1692 d(6) Placed telephone calls without disclosing his/her identity?

Ah... this sounds just like the debt collectors that have been harassing me for the past 10 days. The agency has used several 1-800, 1-888, and 1-866 numbers to get to me. Ten at the last count.

I've already said I have someone working with me on my debt and was told nastily by the guy on the other end of the line "I owe it" and "Pay it all--or else"

Am I missing something? I read this twice and both times I read that it pertains to a creditor - and defines a creditor as someone who extends credit and creates a debt - doesn't that include the original creditor? It does not say anywhere except for original creditors. Am I missing something

The fdcpa lays out a few definitions, one of which is "creditor", another of which is "debt collector". Read the prohibited acts more closely, you will see that the term "debt collector" is used, not creditor.

I have been getting calls from I. C. Systems. I have been told by the people that have called me that "I should have never had kids if I couldn't pay my debts" "My priorities are all wrong" and "I should be out there working to pay my debts". These are just a few things being said to me. I am a stay at home mom of 3 lil ones. My husband works and we only have so much money to go around. Well when I got the card from HSBC (best buy) Our money was fine. Then husbands hours went way down and it was either house payment, food, and utilities or a credit card...well family in my eyes are number one. So how should I handle this? I have called and talked to a so called "supervisor" and didnt get anywhere. He said "I will talk to them" thats it. What can I do personally?

this paragraph deals with the times to call the consumer,is 8 am - 9pm.. i got that but....it clearly statesthat in the absence of knowledge of circumstance to the contrary ,a debt collector shall assume.......Doesn't this mean that if i inform them, that it is inconevnient to contact me, any time except. say 5 pm-6pm. that they will have to abide by that.
now that they know other times will be inconevnient?
also.... is a collector, required to identify himself,by means of
not blocking the id on the call id. in otherwords not displaying ''unavailable''.
to not do so would be harrassing and abusive. according to
the f.d.c.a causing a telephone to ring or .....
what do you think on these points..

i was told today, ''i can call every 15 minutes. if i want. i am a first party collector''
i wanted to say b&&^h. no you can'tbut i refrained.
as you get older,you learn to think before speaking.
is there a difference, between a 1st. party and a 3rd party.
as far as the fair debt act?
please help with questions before i loose my religion!!

I am assuming (ya I know) that by 1st party you are referring to the OC? The Original Creditor is not bound by the fdcpa so they basically can call as frequently as they wish. You don't have to answer the phone though. 3rd party collectors are bound by the FDCPA and if you inform them in writing that it is inconvienent to contact you at work and you give them a time frame that they can call you then they would have to abide by that. If you attempt to limit them to contact only via USPS, they do not have to abide by that. The concept of a "limited C&D" is a hotly debated topic on this forum and many others. My personal interpretation is that they can either take it as a full cease comm and you may never hear from them again (or be sued if w/in SOL) or they will ignore it completely. If you were to try and sue them for violating a "limited C&D" I think it would be very difficult to convince a judge that there is NO convienent time that you can be contacted via phone. Again, this is MY opinion only. What I add to any DV is "Calls to my employer place my employment in jeopardy" and at the bottom of each DV:
[center:565e636155]
ALL CALLS TO MY HOME AND CELL PHONE ARE RECORDED[/center:565e636155]

They can call me all they want and if they screw up by making threats or misrepresentations then I've got it on tape. Only have 1 good one so far but not enough to take to court.

thanks for the information , nascardevil. would you happen to know anything about the caller id. ''yea, i know plug it in''
what i mean is, can they block there calls, from my prying eyes? it would seem to me that by blocking it. it would be a attempt to hide there idenity. then that could be construed as harrassment and or abuse.
what ya'll think?

I have had it with all these calls...........with the world being overrun with fraud I am very cautious as to who I answer...DO I owe ?...YES.........Do I intend to pay?.......Yes....
When?..........now if they will scale down payments or even give me a FAIR settlement number......these people get down right personal..........one even went so far as to call my neighbor and give them my case # ...IS THAT LEGAL IN NEW YORK.?...................PLEASE I DON'T FEEL LIKE PAYING A LAWYER TO TELL ME STUFF I AM SURE CAN BE FOUND OUT THRU THIS BOARD..........I say we rise up and let our government see what they have created ......it is absolutely disgusting..........I HAD THE BEST CREDIT SCORE UNTIL I LOST A VERY HIGH PAYING JOB TO DOWNSIZING....problem is my field is shrinking and there just aren't that many jobs out there....the minute I fell behind THEY were all over me...........plus Countrywide has totally screwed up my mortgage with Key Bank and I am in dispute there but all the while COUNTRYWIDE and KEY BANK are contributing to my bad credit score ....ALL THE WHILE KNOWING THIS DISPUTE IS ONGOING........

LNVN hasnt shown me verification of this debt, i know this isnt mine because citi bank called me at work 5 years ago to tell me someone was using my account. they sold the account to asg and then I had them legally and didnt fry them, then they sold it to lnvn, they had an attorney serve me papers in march and had a court date of 11-2, i thought fine we would go to court, then 6 weeks later i got papers in the mail that state they won a judgement against me.... I didnt respond to the court papres legal because i was told by a para legal that it would be about $300.00 to respond. i dont have that. i did call the attorney and he is aware that these charges are not mine. he said he requested validation for this charge and when it comes in we will review it, he actually stalled until it was to late for me to respond, am i screwed.............. :x

I have disputed the debt with both companies. The first company sent purported bills, however the bills had the wrong address. The second submitted computer generated reports that are supposed to be form the original lender. Long story short, the second comapny has slipped up and said that they are in fact collecting for the same account. I filed a motion to dismiss both cases. The second company came back and siad that they will dismiss with prejudice if I sign something agreeing that I will not bring Not against them. Isn't two companies suing for the same debt illegal and what do you do when that hapens?

boy oh boy.first once a collector files suite they can't dismiss it.that is for the court to decide.next never sign a thing without reading it first.you may be cooking your own goose.it is peculiar that two diffrent companies are trying to sue for the same debt.bac to my first and second point.have them forward a copy of this document.again a collector can't dismiss with or without perjudice.that is for the court to decide.that whole thing sounds weird.i would ask around about that.

Technically yes the court must dismiss the case, however the plaintiff can file a motion to dismiss if they do not want to continue. The court will honor that motion as the court has no interest or anything to gain from the lawsuit.The court will not force something on two parties that do not wish to continue. Cases, civil and criminal are dismissed everyday at the request of the plaintiff or prosecution.

As far as I know two companies cannot sue for the same debt, someone is screwing up. As paul said read any agreements first and be careful.

I have teamed up with an attorney that doesn't charge at all email me at justchicy@outlook.com it is very illegal and we will help you get it resolved and stop the harassment.

Yes there is a difference, first party collectors are not upheld by the fdcpa however, anyone can be charged with harassment and if she calls more than once speaking to you in a day and you have asked her to stop tha is harassment.

I wrote training programs for collection agencies regarding fdcpa and now have teamed up with attorneys to stop the infractions please email me if you have been harassed by a collector at justchicy@outlook.com