Posts Tagged ‘FDCPA’
What is unfair or unconscionable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from abusive or harassing conduct, false or misleading statements or unfair act by Debt Collectors.
What is “unfair or unconscionable” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
As usual, we start with the statutory definition. Thanks to LII.
15 U.S.C. §1692f says
A debt collector may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:
(1) The collection of any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation) unless such amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law.
(2) The acceptance by a debt collector from any person of a check or other payment instrument postdated by more than five days unless such person is notified in writing of the debt collector’s intent to deposit such check or instrument not more than ten nor less than three business days prior to such deposit.
(3) The solicitation by a debt collector of any postdated check or other postdated payment instrument for the purpose of threatening or instituting criminal prosecution.
(4) Depositing or threatening to deposit any postdated check or other postdated payment instrument prior to the date on such check or instrument.
(5) Causing charges to be made to any person for communications by concealment of the true purpose of the communication. Such charges include, but are not limited to, collect telephone calls and telegram fees.
(6) Taking or threatening to take any nonjudicial action to effect dispossession or disablement of property if—
(A) there is no present right to possession of the property claimed as collateral through an enforceable security interest;
(B) there is no present intention to take possession of the property; or
(C) the property is exempt by law from such dispossession or disablement.
(7) Communicating with a consumer regarding a debt by post card.
(8) Using any language or symbol, other than the debt collector’s address, on any envelope when communicating with a consumer by use of the mails or by telegram, except that a debt collector may use his business name if such name does not indicate that he is in the debt collection business.
So, a collector is not permitted to ask for any money unless it is an amount allowed for by law or by agreement. Examples of this are collection fees, or more commonly, fees for how you pay. For example, if you pay by phone, some collectors charge a fee for pay by phone. This is an illegal charge under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Post dated checks are another problem under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If the collector accepts a post-dated check, they must not deposit the check until the date you specify. If that date is more than 5 days away, they must notify you in writing that they are going to deposit the money before they do so.
They also are not permitted to solicit a post-dated check, if the purpose of this is to charge you with a crime if the money is not there.
They cannot hide the charges, for example, by doing a collect phone call. This is prohibited under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Other examples are calls to cell phones where you have a per-minute charge (I know this is relatively rare in these days of unlimited minutes, but it was more common), or if they communicate by text message, and you are charged a fee for receiving text messages. Text messages are a whole problem unto themselves, and we will dedicate a blog to that another time.
Postcards an markings on envelopes that identify the business are improper, also, under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The only provision of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that applies to repossession agents is the section on repossessing or foreclosing on something that they do not have the right to do so. 15 USC 1692f[6]. A repossession agent is not permitted to repossess a car if there is no present right to repossess the car. They cannot foreclose if they are not permitted to do so. When are they not permitted to do so? If there is no loan on your car or house. If you are current on your car or house payments, this would also potentially violation the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. There will be a longer post on that another time.
If you have been impacted by anything we mentioned here, you can make an appointment to see us.
NO FEE IN YOUR FDCPA CASE UNLESS WE RECOVER!!
OUR LEGAL FEES:
The rights afforded to you, as a consumer, under the FCRA and the FDCPA means that a corporation or party who has violated your rights may ultimately be made to pay for statutory damages, actual damages, and your legal fees. Therefore, if we agree to represent you in any case, you won’t pay any attorney’s fees unless we are successful and we recover on your behalf. We are here to serve and have assisted many consumers TO enforce their legal rights. Let us try and see if we can help you too. That means you pay no fee in your case unless we recover.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
What is a consumer debt
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from abusive or harassing conduct, false or misleading statements or unfair act by Debt Collectors.
The second question that is key to ask, is What is a debt that is covered by the act?
Not all debts are “debt” for purposes of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
We always start with the statutory definition.
16 USC 1692a[5] says “debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment.
What this means is that if the debt was incurred to pay for something for you, or your houshold, it is a consumer debt. Examples include credit cards used to pay for family vacations, groceries or gas. It includes your store brand credit cards, if you use them for your self. Your car, if its for your personal use.
It does NOT include debts that are for business, or debts that are not from a transaction.
Lets go over some examples of not-transactions
Taxes, fines, levies, and other tort damages, like car wrecks or assault or shoplifting debts. These are debts that you owe, but there was no bargained for transaction. You did not do something, like negotiate for how much you would pay in taxes, and get something in return (well, maybe you did get something, but police protection, fire departments and roads are not something you negotiate for, you get them because you live there).
A car wreck is another perfect example. You did not agree to get into a car wreck and cause $5,000.00 in damages. You had an accident. This is a tort, called negligence.
So what IS covered?
Basically, anything that is a contract.
Your car loan, for the car that you use to take the kids to soccer, go to the grocery store, and drive to your place of employment, is a contract, for a purchase that you made for your personal use, and for the good of your household. But if you use that car for work- for example, a delivery driver, that car may not be a “personal” use car. It may be a business use.
How about store cards? Lets use a home improvement/hardware store card, as our example, because we can have that for many different purposes.
Lets says you have a credit card with the store, and you want to build a deck on your home. So, you charge the materials, and the brand new circular saw, and the saw horses, and the hammers, and all the other stuff. You are building a deck on your home. This is a debt for personal, family or household purposes.
Lets say you are a contractor, building a deck on a customer’s house. So, you charge the materials, and the brand new circular saw, and the saw horses, and the hammers, and all the other stuff. You are building a deck on your customer’s house. You make a living (we assume) doing construction, so the debt to the store is for a business debt, not a consumer debt. This debt would NOT be covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
How about a check to the local grocery store?
The same analysis applies.
Did you buy groceries for you and your family? That is a consumer debt, and is covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Did you buy groceries because you are a caterer, and need supplies for your next job? That is NOT a consumer debt, that is a business debt, and not covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Why is this important?
Because when a debt collector does something that is abusive, false or misleading or unfair, to collect on a CONSUMER debt, they violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. A violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows you to sue a debt collector for actual damages, an additional $1,000.00, plus attorneys fees and costs. Please note that the $1,000.00 is NOT per violation, but for all violations that occur.
Read more about what we can do to assist you in protecting yourself from collection harassment or abuse, false or misleading statements or unfair and deceptive acts in the main section of our website.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
What is the difference between a creditor and a debt collector?
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from abusive or harassing conduct, false or misleading statements or unfair act by Debt Collectors.
What is a DEBT COLLECTOR and how is a DEBT COLLECTOR different from a CREDITOR?
A “Creditor” is defined at 15 U.S.C. §1692a[3]- “The term “creditor” means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another.”:
A “Debt Collector is defined at 15 U.S.C. §1692a[6]- The term “debt collector” means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. “ There are some exclusions, that we will talk about (briefly) later.
Why is this important?
In Virginia, this is particularly important, because a debt collector is covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and a creditor is not covered by the FDCPA. A debt collector is subject to regulation (and more importantly, to being sued) for acts that are abusive or harassing, false or misleading, or unfair and deceptive.
A creditor is NOT subject to anything. A creditor, and their employees may not violate criminal law in the collection of a debt. Generally, this means that they can’t send someone to your house to beat you up. That’s about it. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) does not apply.
So, what is a “Debt Collector?” A debt collector is anyone who uses the phone, mail, telephone, telegraph, or any other thing that crosses state lines, to collect debts that are or were owed to someone else.
The easiest way to explain this is examples.
- You owe First National Bank of Nonesuch (FNBN) for a credit card. FNBN’s employees call and violate the law (never mind how, that’s another blog entry, lets just assume that they did something that would violate the law). FNBN is a creditor. They did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), because the act does not apply to them.
- You owe FNBN for a credit card, and the account goes into default. Mean Debt Collector (MDC) has an employee who calls and violates the law (once again, never mind how, that’s another blog entry). MDC (and their employees) are debt collectors as defined by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), so they have violated the law.
- You owe FNBN for a credit card, and the account does NOT go into default. Mean Debt Collector (MDC) has an employee who calls and violates the law (once again, never mind how, that’s another blog entry). MDC is not collecting an account that is in default, so they did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), because the act does not apply to them- they are not collecting an account that went into default.
- You owe FNBN for a credit card, and the account goes into default. Junk Debt Buyer (JDB) lets you know that they have bought your account, and you should now direct all your payments to them. Then they call and violate the law (once again, never mind how, that’s another blog entry.). JDB has violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because they are debt collectors as defined by the act.
In other states, like North Carolina, California, Florida, and Maryland, creditors are covered by the state laws. VIRGINIA DOES NOT HAVE A STATE COLLECTION ACT. The Virginia Consumer Protection Act DOES NOT APPLY to debt collectors.
Read more about what we can do to assist you in protecting yourself from collection harassment or abuse, false or misleading statements or unfair and deceptive acts in the main section of our website.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
Who is protected under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from abusive or harassing conduct, false or misleading statements or unfair act by Debt Collectors.
The first questions to ask in an inquiry is “Am I a consumer who is entitled to protection?”
Lets start with the definition from the statute.
15 U.S.C. §1692a[3] says a “consumer” means any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt.
So, you must be a natural person. This means that for MOST purposes if you are a business, you are not protected. There is a key exception. Harassment or abuse is something that is prohibited in the collection of consumer debts as to ANY person, and for this section (15 U.S.C. §1692d), any person INCLUDES non-consumers– businesses, and other entitles.
But the discussion of consumer does not end there. A consumer also owes or is alleged to owe a consumer debt.
So, just because you are a real person does not mean that you are entitled to protection. They must owe a consumer debt. Consumer debts are generally debts incurred for personal, family or household use. Commercial debts, tort debts, and taxes and fines are specifically excluded.
This means that most people are protected, generally for most usual kinds of debts, but not all.
Read up on What is a “Debt”? next week.
Read more about what we can do to assist you in protecting yourself from collection harassment or abuse, false or misleading statements or unfair and deceptive acts in the main section of our website.
If you have been impacted by any of the things that we have mentioned in this or any other blog post, please contact us.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
TeleSpoofing
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from abusive or harassing conduct, false or misleading statements or unfair act by Debt Collectors.
What is TeleSpoofing and is it “false and misleading” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
TELESPOOFING IN COLLECTIONS
As usual, we start with the statutory definition. Thanks to LII.
15 U.S.C. §1692d says
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:
. . .
(6) Except as provided in section 1692b of this title, the placement of telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller’s identity.
15 U.S.C. §1692e says
A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:
. . .
(10) The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer.
. . .
What does this mean for you?
Knoll v. IntelliRisk Management Corporation, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77467 (Lexis citation), 2006 WL 2974190(parallel WestLaw citation) (D. Minn. October 16, 2006), says that when a debt collector misrepresents his phone number (by TELESPOOFING) it is a misrepresentation of the identity of the caller, and therefore a misrepresentation that violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 15 U.S.C. §1692e[10] It also explains that the debt collector must meaningfully disclose his identity, and by misidentifying themselves be TELESPOOFING, they are not meaningfully disclosing their identity. 15 U.S.C. §1692d[6].
Debt collectors are allowed to use aliases, under some circumstances. For example, if they have a way to backtrack to determine who called, that would be permissible.
On the other hand, when they refuse to identify the name of the company they work for, they are not meaningfully disclosing their identity, and they are using a false and misleading means to collect a debt.
NON COLLECTIONS TELESPOOFING
But collections are not the only time we need to worry about TELESPOOFING. Scammers come in all types. There was a recent new story on my local Fox affiliate, in which they talked about telespoofing. There are a number of companies that provide the services, and the scammer can appear to be anyone they want to be. They can be your friend, your neighbor, your child or grandchild. And they often will ask for money.
In the story on the news, a local lady had a call from someone who said he was her grandson and he had been in an accident, and he needed $5,000.00. The Caller ID showed that it was from a hospital. So, she was all too happy to send money to her “grandson”. Only afterwards, did she realize that it was all a scam.
Can we get that money back? Maybe, but that will depend on if we are able to identify the culprit. It is easier with a debt collector, because they will either eventually tell you who they really are, or they will have you send the money somewhere. But if they have you send the money by Western Union, or other wire service, it may be all but unreachable.
Stay tuned and come visit us NEXT WEEK when we talk about COMMUNICATING WITH THE CONSUMER in collection practices.
If you have been impacted by anything we mentioned here, you can make an appointment to see us.
NO FEE IN YOUR FDCPA CASE UNLESS WE RECOVER!!
OUR LEGAL FEES:
The rights afforded to you, as a consumer, under the FCRA and the FDCPA means that a corporation or party who has violated your rights may ultimately be made to pay for statutory damages, actual damages, and your legal fees. Therefore, if we agree to represent you in any case, you won’t pay any attorney’s fees unless we are successful and we recover on your behalf. We are here to serve and have assisted many consumers TO enforce their legal rights. Let us try and see if we can help you too. That means you pay no fee in your case unless we recover.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
Contacting a consumer
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
How can a debt collector communicate with a consumer under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
As usual, we start with the language of the statute.
15 USC §1692c(a) Communication with the consumer generally
Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, 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. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o’clock antemeridian and before 9 o’clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer’s location;
(2) 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, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the debt collector or unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer; or
(3) 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.
So, what does this mean?
Debt collectors are not allowed to contact you in manners that are inconvenient. The statute defines what is pre-determined to be inconvenient. If the debt collector knows that the time or place that they are contacting you is inconvenient, they are not allowed to contact you. For example, before 8 am or after 9 pm. There are exceptions to this, for example, if you work night shift, then 8am to 9pm is inconvenient- that’s when you sleep.
But they can’t call you at work if they know that you are not allowed to get personal phone calls at work. How would they know this?
You can tell them, but that becomes a swearing match- you swear you told them, and they swear you never said that.
You could tell them and record, but many debt collectors are in states that require the consent of all parties to the conversation, so recording may be a crime. You get the money, but go to jail in the process. Our opinion is that there is no amount of money for which it is worth going to jail.
But you can write them a letter, and tell them in the letter. If you send them a letter Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested (CMRRR), you can prove that you sent it and you can prove that they received it.
But you don’t really need that to prove that they did something. It works just as well to take pictures of your caller ID.
Those work calls can be very annoying. All you need to do, supposedly, is tell them you cannot take calls. They should NOT call back. But they may do so anyway.
If you have any of these problems, first, you can use our call log, to track these calls, and second- contactus.
If you have been impacted by anything we mentioned here, you can make an appointment to see us.
NO FEE IN YOUR FDCPA CASE UNLESS WE RECOVER!!
OUR LEGAL FEES:
The rights afforded to you, as a consumer, under the FCRA and the FDCPA means that a corporation or party who has violated your rights may ultimately be made to pay for statutory damages, actual damages, and your legal fees. Therefore, if we agree to represent you in any case, you won’t pay any attorney’s fees unless we are successful and we recover on your behalf. We are here to serve and have assisted many consumers TO enforce their legal rights. Let us try and see if we can help you too. That means you pay no fee in your case unless we recover.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
What is ABUSE under the FDCPA
KCLS LIMITS THE GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH WE TAKE CASES.
YOU MUST BE A VIRGINIA RESIDENT.
If you are not a Virginia Resident, click here to find a lawyer near you.
What is abusive under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
Lots of things are “abuse”. The statute in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA is 15 USC §1692d.
§1692d says that “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. . . “ It then goes on to say that certain things ARE abuse, but the list is not exhaustive.
The list provided in the statute is
(1) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person.
(2) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.
(3) The publication of a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay debts, except to a consumer reporting agency or to persons [that are like a credit reporting agency. Examples include TeleCheck, ChexSystems, Certigy, Equifax’s check recovery department, and others.]
(4) The advertisement for sale of any debt to coerce payment of the debt.
(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.
(6) Except as provided in section 1692b of this title, the placement of telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller’s identity.
So, lets go through these.
CRIMINAL THREATS: Obviously, threats of criminal harm should be considered abusive. When they threaten to send “Vinny” around to break your knees if you don’t pay up—they are threatening to do something to you that is prohibited, not by civil law, but criminal law. That means if “Rocco” does show up, and break your knees, “Rocco” goes to jail. But under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, “Rocco” whether or not “Rocco” shows up, “Rocco’s” employer get sued.
But it doesn’t really stop there- If they threaten to tell everyone something illegal about you, like a threat to tell the police that you are a child molester, that too is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA
In some states, in fact, threats of criminal harm are also criminal acts, and you can have someone arrested for this.
PROFANE LANGUAGE: Use of profane language abounds in our society. But some people are prohibited from using such language. Just think about the words that the Federal Communications Commission prohibits from use on the open airwaves, and only permits on cable/satellite. You cannot say certain words on the radio or TV. Those words are prohibited from being used in the context of debt collection.
But the law goes further than that. It also prohibits language that the natural consequence of which is to abuse the reader or hearer. That means use of racial epithets, being impolite to people based on race, religion or national origin, accent. These are all examples of “abuse”, and prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA.
PUBLICATION OF LIST OF NON-PAYING CONSUMERS: This means that if you discover that you have been “blacklisted” from obtaining credit or services, or writing checks, or other things, you may have a violation. Examples here are the Telecheck and ChexSystems networks. That MAY be considered publication of a list of non-paying consumers if they send a “list” around. Imagine going into a doctor’s office, and posted there on the wall is a list of people they are not permitted to take a check from. They used to do this. Usually, though, it was a list that that doctor had posted, and there was a separate list at the grocery store. Now, imagine that when you were on the doctor’s list, that there was a central list, and that list was also posted at the grocery store. That means if you bounce a check at the doctor, you can’t write a check at grocery store, either. That would be very embarrassing. And it would be prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA.
ADVERTISING THE SALE OF DEBT: This one is harder to explain. Imagine that you owe a credit card company- it doesn’t matter who- Capital One, CitiBank, Chase, Applied Bank, First National Bank of Marin, HSBC, it doesn’t matter who- for some reason you run into financial difficulty. Job loss, divorce, illness, whatever the reason. The account goes into collections. The collector, whom we will call “Fictional Collector” threatens to puts into the local newspaper that they own a portfolio of defaulted debts, originally owed to your credit card company, and that you are that portfolio. They are threatening to advertise for sale your debt. This would be prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA. In states OTHER than Virginia, this might be an invasion privacy, called publication of private facts, however, the Virginia General Assembly has expressly stated that this is not invasion of privacy, and the courts have upheld that.
MAKING THE PHONE RING: They call, and they call, but the only purpose is to annoy you. They know that they are only calling to annoy you, abuse you, and waste your time. The problem with this case is that we must prove what is in their mind. We have to show that they knew that there would be no point in a call, and they tried anyway. Good examples of this are multiple calls after they received a letter demanding that they cease communications, or calls where they admit that they knew that they were not supposed to call- they admit that the account is paid, or included in a Bankruptcy. Its hard, but doiable.
FAILING TO DISCLOSE THEIR IDENTITY: This is the call where they call and say “Can I talk to Joe?” and the person answering says something along the lines of Joe is not here, can I take a message? And the response is “No, I’ll call back” or something like that. They are supposed to tell the person who they are. They are NOT permitted to tell them they are a debt collector, but they must give a name. So for example, in that situation, if they said something like “My name is Bill, and I am calling about a private matter” that MIGHT be permissible. But there are OTHER provisions of law that might be impacted.
Stay tuned and come visit us NEXT WEEK when we talk about LIES, FALSE REPRESENTATIONS, AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS.
If you have been impacted by anything we mentioned here, you can make an appointment to see us.
NO FEE IN YOUR FDCPA CASE UNLESS WE RECOVER!!
OUR LEGAL FEES:
The rights afforded to you, as a consumer, under the FCRA and the FDCPA means that a corporation or party who has violated your rights may ultimately be made to pay for statutory damages, actual damages, and your legal fees. Therefore, if we agree to represent you in any case, you won’t pay any attorney’s fees unless we are successful and we recover on your behalf. We are here to serve and have assisted many consumers TO enforce their legal rights. Let us try and see if we can help you too. That means you pay no fee in your case unless we recover.
Contact us by e-mail or by telephone or fax or US Mail.
You can call us: 804.673.4358
You can fax us: 804.673.4350
You can contact us by US MAIL:
Krumbein Consumer Legal Services, Inc.
1650 Willow Lawn Drive
Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230