Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Florida

Anyone who has large amounts of debt knows the stress and financial strain caused by having to make repayments. This stress is only amplified by having debt collectors continuously calling the house to try to take from you the money you don’t have ready yet.

After too long of a time being able to get away with harassing people, the State of Florida decided to do something about the situation and passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This relatively new law prevents debt collectors from conducting themselves in an unfair way and requires a standard of respect from debt collectors when contacting their customers for business.

The first tenant of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is that any debt collector must identify his or herself along with information about motive and employer. This includes exclusively any contact the debt collector has with any third party agency and such contact may only be made once for the purposes of collecting addresses or any incorrect information.

In addition, the collector may not legally contact the debtor at inconvenient times. This includes times that are stated by the Act to be unfair, such as in the middle of the night, as well as times that are stated by the debtor or the debtor’s attorney. This ensures that any communication is done in such a way that it minimally impacts the life of the debtor.

In addition, the FDCPA also lays out ground rules for the communication that does occur between a debt collector and a debtor. The law strictly prohibits all forms of disrespect or deception on the part of the collector, including threats, obscenities, abuse, or claiming to be an attorney or anyone else besides what he or she is.

This is very important because it allows for complete transparency and prevents the debtors from being harassed or tricked into undesirable action. If, for any reason, the debtor does not want to be contacted any further, he or she can submit it in writing and all communication must be ceased.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prevents any Florida debt collector from harassing or misleading anyone who is already stressed out by the negative effects of debt. While this is a victory, it is not a victory against debt, but there is relief. At Cain and Daniels, we can help you resolve your debt problems by negotiating with debt collectors so that you don’t have to deal with that stress, or collectors, any longer.