Know your rights when debt collectors call
As part of Consumer Safety Awareness Week, NBC2 wants you to be informed concerning debt collectors ? and what they are and are not allowed to do.
Illegal debt-collector phone calls happen so often, recordings of calls are all over YouTube. Some of them include threats.
Federal law prohibits threatening debt collection calls.
Collection agents can't arrest you, can't report false information to credit bureaus, and can't misrepresent themselves.
By law - they can only call you between the hours of 8 in the morning and 9 at night and they can't contact you after you tell them you have an attorney.
They're required to:
- Identify themselves as a debt collector in every communication
- Send you a validation letter within 5 days of the first communication
- This letter must inform you of your right to dispute the debt
- Stop calling you at work if you tell them not to. Put this request in a letter to the debt collector
The Federal Trade Commission regulates debt collectors. If you have a complaint about a debt collector, notify the FTC. Do not file a complaint with the debt collector directly.?
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46686726/ns/local_news-fort_myers_fl/