Stop The Harassment!

With the economy slowly recovering from its melt down, there are many people who are facing debts that have become past due. Many people lost their job either due to cutbacks, layoffs or the company they worked for simply closed its doors. In any case, the calls start rolling in from debt collectors. Debt collectors are people hired by a third party company or organization to call the past due debtors to get the money owed to the company they were hired by. They have a job to do, but they cannot do anything more than be civil when trying to collect the debt.

There are laws in place to protect consumers who have debt from being treated unfairly, from being harassed, and from being threatened. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also known as FDCPA, is a set of laws meant to prevent abusive consumer debt collectors from harassing or threatening the debtor. Any creditor harassment lawyer can help decide if a creditor or debt collector is infringing upon the debtor's rights to fair debt collecting. The debtor has the right to be treated fairly and with respect when a creditor calls to collect the debt owed. In one example, a debtor is receiving multiple calls in a single day, repeatedly from the same collector for the same debt; their rights are being ignored and are not being respected. If the calls are coming into the debtors place of employment, where they aren't allowed to receive calls at work and the collector is aware of it, then the debt collector is breaking the law.

Other offenses used against the debtor include receiving threatening letters, being repeatedly accused of owing money they do not and have provided proof of it to the original debt holder, or if the calls become threatening or vulgar. The debtor can hire a creditor harassment lawyer to stop the calls and act on the debtors behalf to sue for up to $1000 in statutory damages, as well as other damages including mental anguish, related phone charges and any attorney fees. Some states, such as Florida, do go above and beyond the federal law to protect consumers. A Sarasota lawyer who specializes in creditor harassment will pursue a debtor's case and usually receive payment on a contingency basis.

There are other situations that can be considered abusive, harassing or threatening. Creditors aren't allowed to contact the debtors employer directly and discuss debt owed to them, nor are they allowed to threaten to have the debtor fired from their job if they don't pay the debt immediately. A creditor cannot send letters or postcards with messages across them with the words "deadbeat" or "pay your debt dead beat". In Florida, any creditors and their collectors who violate provisions of the FDCPA is liable under Florida's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The debtor can contact any Sarasota lawyer who will fight for their rights in a court of law and regain the respect they deserve.