The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and private attorneys to ensure fair debt collection methods. According to the FDCPA, a debt collector is someone who collects debts owed to others. Fair debt collection includes methods employed by collection agencies, lawyers who collect debts on a regular basis and companies that buy criminal debts and try to collect them.

Harassment from debt collectors can be dreadful even if you owe. You can avoid this if you know your rights about debt collection. The FDCPA was formed in 1977 to protect consumers from unfair means of debt collection. Engaging an FDCPA attorney who is well versed in the statute can help you fight against the bad collection guys.

A debt collector may call you but not at inconvenient times and not repeatedly. He has to identify himself or his agency and should not contact anyone else about you. Once you are represented by an FDCPA attorney, a collector needs to contact the attorney and not you. Once you send the debt collector a cease and desist notice he cannot contact you. It is equivalent to harassment if the collector abuses you.

Any or all the above are violations of FDCPA act and a debt collector can be sued under the act. You may even be harassed for a debt that you have already paid, or a non-existent debt, or a case of your debt being sold to third party credit agency. These also constitute violations of the act.

An FDCPA attorney studies your case and files a complaint, sues the debt collector and may also sue for damages. The debt collector’s violations attract compensation of $1000 per violation. The judge may impose upon the collector to pay you for the illegal collection practices, or compensate for the medical bills accrued on medical conditions suffered due to his harassment.

You may engage an FDCPA attorney to protect yourself against debt collection harassment. An FDCPA Attorney will fight unscrupulous debt collectors through the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and state Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP) laws. You no longer have to be disturbed or be in awe of calls once you contact an FDCPA attorney and engage him to handle your case.