Debt collectors must follow the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in order to ensure that they collect their money ethically.
However, not every debt collector will abide by these standards. It is important to recognize debt collector misdemeanors and misbehavior when it happens.
Breaking down a collector’s threats
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau discusses debt collector behaviors. Generally speaking, debt collectors will abide by the rules and regulations of the FDCPA. Sometimes, however, they may attempt to trick or deceive a person they wish to collect money from.
First, always check that debt collectors have the ability to back up their threats. A common intimidation tactic is lying about the involvement of law enforcement. For example, a debt collector may threaten a person, saying that police will come to evict them soon if they do not pay. In reality, the police likely do not even know this is happening and would likely not evict a person for this reason even if they did know.
Are attorneys involved?
Sometimes, debt collectors also lie about the involvement of attorneys. They may have someone on staff pretend to be a legal figure and threaten to take an individual to court. Of course, though it is possible for this to happen, debt collectors often want to avoid litigation and simply want to scare a person into paying up.
Any form of misrepresentation by a debt collector falls under the jurisdiction of the FDCPA. This means anyone suffering from trickery or abuse through misrepresentation can consider taking action against the debt collector who did such things.
