Are you being harassed by debt collectors? Are you being harassed about a debt that isn't even yours? Don't be a victim of debt collector harassment. You have rights. To learn more about your rights regarding the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), talk to a New Jersey Fair Debt Collection Act lawyer at Tomes & Hanratty, P.C.
Monmouth County Debt Collector Harassment Abuse Attorney. For a Free Consultation, Call 732-333-0681 or 1-866-NJ-LAW-FIRM (1-866-655-29-3476) Today or Contact Us Online.
CALL OUR FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY, OFFICE AT 732-333-0681. OUR MONMOUTH COUNTY LOCATION ALLOWS US TO SERVE CLIENTS THROUGHOUT NEW JERSEY.
Fill out the bankruptcy questionnaire and gather the documents on the checklist, and call our Freehold, New Jersey, office at 732-333-0681 for an appointment.
What Are Debt Collectors Not Allowed To Do?
Our attorneys have more than 25 years of experiencing protecting the rights of consumers. Over the years, we have helped many clients just like you who are being harassed by debt collectors. Under the FDCPA, debt collectors cannot:
- Use misleading or deceptive practices in an attempt to collect debt
- Send a letter that has not been signed by an attorney
- Claim they are taking you to court if they are not
- Report debt to authorities
- Send collection notices with incorrect amount
- Make threats
- Informing family members or neighbors of the amount you owe
Monmouth County Debt Collector Harassment Abuse Attorney. For a Free Consultation, Call 732-333-0681 or 1-866-NJ-LAW-FIRM (1-866-655-29-3476) Today or Contact Us Online.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and your rights
The FDCPA is a federal law that provides residents of all states with considerable rights and protections against abusive, unfair and deceptive debt collection practices used by debt collectors. Examples of debt collection practices prohibited by the FDCPA include using profane language, lying and calling a debtor at work if the debt collector knows the employer disapproves. The debt collector must also protect the debtor's privacy by not disclosing the debt to others such as friends, family members or co-workers.
A debt collector is defined in the fair debt collection practices act as anyone who regularly collects debts on behalf of an original creditor. That means that your credit card company or any other "original creditor" is not covered by the law, but its collection agency is.
The FDCPA covers only consumer debt, which includes personal, family and household debt, but not business debt or any debt incurred for business purposes. Common types of consumer debt are credit card debt, automobile loans, home loans, utility bills and medical debt.
A debt collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you are first contacted, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed.
Debt collectors may not:
- Use threats of violence or harm against the person, property, or reputation
- Publish a list of consumers who refuse to pay their debts
- Use obscene or profane language
- Repeatedly call on the telephone to annoy and without identifying themselves
- Advertise your debt
- Falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives;
- Falsely imply that you have committed a crime
- Falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau
Illegal Actions of a debt collector include:
- Calling you at work and knows that it is inconvenient or that your employer disapproves or forbids it.
- A debt collector knows that an attorney, whose contact information is known or is easy to locate, represents you and the debt collector continues to contact you.
- Debt collectors can only communicate with other people to obtain contact
- Misrepresenting the amount, character, or legal status of a debt
- Communicating false credit information about you
- Refusing to honor your dispute or cease communication rights
- Threatening to take your property or garnish your wages without a court order (judgment).
- Intimidating you, AND your family
- Endangering your reputation, or your property
- Using profane or obscene language
- Painting the Debt and credit issues are matters of criminal law while in actuality it is civil law
- Tricking you into accepting charges for collect calls, telegrams, or a C.O.D
- Attempting to cash a post-dated check before the date written on the check
- Claiming to be an attorney or sends a letter made to look like it is from an attorney when he is not an attorney
- Sending a letter that is made to look like a government or court document when it isn't
CALL OUR FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY, OFFICE AT 732-333-0681. OUR MONMOUTH COUNTY LOCATION ALLOWS US TO SERVE CLIENTS THROUGHOUT NEW JERSEY.
Fill out the bankruptcy questionnaire and gather the documents on the checklist, and call our Freehold, New Jersey, office at 732-333-0681 for an appointment.
Tomes & Hanratty, P.C., has extensive knowledge of the rights of consumers and what debt collectors can and cannot do. We can protect your rights and ensure you are not victimized by creditor abuse.
Tomes & Hanratty, P.C., offers free initial consultations. Contact our Freehold law firm online today.
Call 732-333-0681 or 1-866-NJ-LAW-FIRM (1-866-655-29-3476).
