No. Nope. Nada. Nyet. You will find very specific procedures regulating what a debt collector can and cannot do when trying to collect on a debt. They are restricted in the types of things that can be done, and if the collection company breaks those rules, there are monetary (liquid) damages that may need to be paid for the violation. (This is only if a lawsuit is filed).
(Side note: I am conducting a webinar on DEBT COLLECTORS: LIES, DAMN LIES AND DECEIT. You can sign up for it here).
The area of legislation that governs the activities of a collection company is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). This federal government statute regulates how, when, and where they may collect. For example, Section 805 states that '... a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt -- (1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. This typically suggests that the collection company can call between the hours of 8am and 9pm. So if a collection company is contacting you at 6am in the morning, or at 11pm at night, then they are violating the law. Section 805 (2) states the collection company cannot attempt communication "if the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to such debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address." So if you tell the collection company that you have legal counsel on the matter, and they continue to contact you anyway, they've broken the law as well as your protection under the law.
Section 805 (3) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states that the collection company may not make contact "at the consumer's place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication." This obviously means that in the event the collector calls you at your job, and you tell him/her that they can't call you again as it is against company policy or your supervisor will not allow it, and the collector calls you anyway, your protection under the law has been violated.
There exists a relatively extensive list of what the collection agencies can’t do when they try to collect on a debt. Even calling your cell phone is a violation of law (since you cannot be made to incur charges due to the collector's activities, and most people have a plan with their cellular company through which they are billed for minutes used). But many folks are not aware that such laws exist (needless to say, many of the collection agencies do not want you realizing that). If an infraction can be shown to have taken place, then the debt collector must pay you $1,000 in damages. However, this is not automatic: An attorney must be hired and the appropriate actions taken. Additionally, the debt collector must pay all of the attorney fees. What that means is that there won't be any upfront cost for you for having your case filed by a lawyer.
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