Chicago Bill Collector Harassment Lawyer

When a debt becomes past due, most creditors send the account to a debt collector. Bill collection agencies often specialize in digging up information about you, and in some cases they use this information to harass you and force you a quick payment on your debt.

Overzealous debt collectors can become a real burden to their victims. Fortunately, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a law that protects people from over zealous debt collectors and unscrupulous debt collection practices.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was crafted to eliminate abusive practices in the collection of consumer debts, to promote fair debt collection and to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the information’s accuracy. The law specifies what practices are illegal and it prescribes penalties, including the payment of attorney’s fees, to collectors who are found to be in violation.

Advice from Chicago Bill Collector Harassment Lawyer

The following things are prohibited by the FDCPA:

• Contacting consumers by telephone outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time
• Failure to cease communication upon request
• Calling repeatedly and attempting to engage repeatedly in conversation with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.
• Communicating with consumers at their place of employment after having been advised in writing that this is not acceptable
• Contacting consumer known to be represented by an attorney
• Communicating with consumer after request for validation
• Misrepresentation or deceit
• Publishing the consumer’s name or address on a “bad debt” list
• Seeking unjustified amounts
• Threatening arrest or legal action that is either not permitted or not actually contemplated
• Abusive or profane language
• Communication with or discussing the nature of the debt with third parties
• Contact by embarrassing media, like postcards or certain envelopes that reveal personal information. A debt collector may use his business name only if the name does not indicate that he is in the debt collection business
• Reporting false information on a consumer’s credit report

The law protects you, regardless of whether or not you owe the debt. It is possible to not only stop debt collector harassment, but enforce financial penalties on collectors who break the law.