What practices are debt collectors not allowed to use in their efforts to collect a debt?
The Fair Debt Collection Act prohibits certain activities for debt collection, including: Harassment: a collector can not harass, abuse or oppress you with threats of violence or harm, through obscene or profane language, or repeatedly use the phone to annoy someone about a debt. They also cannot publish a list of names of people who are refusing to pay debts, except to report it to credit reporting agencies. False Statements: a debt collector cannot use any false statements to pressure you into paying – they cannot claim to be attorneys or government representatives, cannot claim to work for a credit reporting agency, claim your debt is a crime if it isn’t, or misrepresent the amount of money you currently owe. They cannot state forms they send you are legal if they’re not, or vice versa.
