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Collection Agencies Contacting You Repeatedly? There Are Limits!

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

Collection Agencies Contacting You Repeatedly? There Are Limits!

It seems the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act actually makes some debt collection agency executives nervous; mostly because they’re not sure how often then can legally harass people over the phone.The law states, A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section [of the FDCPA]:…(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.But it’s up to individual judges to interpret what is harassment under the “repeatedly or continuously” contact standard, and they do this on a case by case basis. Some states, like North Carolina, have incorporated this clause into their own debt collection laws. Debt collectors are legally allowed to call only between the hours of eight in the morning and nine at night, and not on weekends—but they don’t always stick to this limit. The industry appears to be pushing for more clarity, on what constitutes annoying, abusing, and harassing people. Most likely, so that they can do everything up to this line.If a collection agency has harassed you, you may be entitled to money damages up to $1,000.00, based on the FDCPA, which has been around for almost 35 years. The FDCPA is a federal law that applies to every state. In other words, everyone is protected by the FDCPA. The FDCPA is essentially a laundry list of what debt collectors can and cannot do while collecting a debt, as well as things debt collectors must do while collecting a debt. Plus, the FDCPA has a fee-shift provision. This means, the collection agency pays your attorney’s fees and costs. Founding attorney, Michael Agruss, has settled over 1,500 debt collection harassment cases. We want to help you, too. 

Submitted Comments

JENNIFER
5 years ago
I, daily, receive multiple calls from a few different numbers. How is a complaint filed and will things get done? 1 of the numbers that call repeatedly is portfolio recovery and it calls on different numbers.

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