Life Business and Money - Top Rights Against Debt Collectors

If you are behind in paying your bills, you may experience having to deal with a debt collector.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibits debt collectors from using abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices when trying to collect debts from you.  Under the FDCPA, a debt collector is someone who regularly collects debts owed to others.  This includes collection agencies, lawyers who collect debts on a regular basis, and companies that buy delinquent debts and then try to collect them.  Texas has its own statute, the Texas Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  While the FDCPA does not apply to creditors attempting to collect their own debts, the Texas statute does.  This is a significant difference between the federal and state statutes.  The statutes apply to the collection of consumer debts, which include, credit cards, doctor bills and other medical bills, educational (student and parent) loans, gambling debts, homeowners association fees and condo assessments, insurance, rent, utility bills and attorneys’ fees.  In this post, I list the top ten rights under these laws that consumers have against debt collectors.

 

 

 

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Disclaimer:  The topics and discussions by Alicia Matsushima on LBM constitutes general commentary only and is not to be construed as legal advice or creating an attorney-client relationship.