Know Your Rights Under The FDCPA
The U.S. court system runs on a basic rule: in a lawsuit, the losing party pays the winning party’s legal fees. Only consumer collection lawsuits are exempt from this standard; in a consumer collection lawsuit, the debt collector absorbs the court costs, no matter who wins. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), enacted in 1977, is the reason for this exception. The FDCPA was created to protect people from abusive debt collection practices, and to encourage people to take debt collectors to court—making collection agencies liable for court fees was an excellent way to encourage this. Usually, people in debt have a tighter budget than the collection agencies hounding them; the FDCPA helped to level the legal playing field. The FDCPA also lays out penalties for abusive and unethical debt collection practices.But the FDCPA has been recently challenged, by a group of federal and private consumer agencies seeking to shift the costs associated with debt collection cases to debtors. Briefs have been filed in the United States Supreme Court, in the case Marx v. General Revenue Corp.; a lower court ruled in favor of the debt collector, and ordered the plaintiff, a single mother, to pay $4,543.00 in legal costs. Marx had filed the suit in good faith—the collection agency had been calling her constantly, threatening to garnish her wages, and sending her employer faxes. The judge ruled in favor of the defendant, pretty much on a technicality. The case’s appeal to the Supreme Court, and the high court’s decision, will have real affects on future FDCPA cases.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.
