If your debts are in collections, you must have been facing various harassments and debt collection calls at any time during the day. It is always said that the best thing for you to do would be to try and pay off the debt when it is with the creditor rather than letting the debt go over to collections. This is because, the collection agencies harass you a lot over unpaid debts and sometimes even over debts that you don’t even owe. However, in order to save yourself from the creditor harassments, you should be aware of the FDCPA laws that prohibit the collection agencies from harassing the debtors.

FDCPA – What is it?

The Federal Trade Commission or the FTC - the consumer protection agency - had enforced the FDCPA laws or the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act to prohibit the overzealous debt collectors from harassing debtors over debt collection issues. In the past, there have been instances when people have been treated harshly by the debt collectors.

FDCPA laws are about the limitations on when and how debt collectors can contact the debtors, about the debts covered under this law, and the information on how to stop the debt collectors from making further harassing contacts.

What are the FDCPA rules or prohibitions?

The FDCPA laws prohibit the debt collectors from:

• Asking more than what you owe – The debt collectors cannot ask for more than what you owe through the original contract with the creditor.
• Calling before 8 am and after 9 pm – The collection agencies are not supposed to call you before 8 am in the morning or after 9 pm in the evening.
• Using abusive and profane language – The debt collectors are prohibited from using any kind of abusive or profane language while trying to collect the debt from you.
• Calling you repeatedly and continuously – The collection agencies cannot call you on a continual basis or repeatedly for the collection purposes.
• Calling you at office if asked not to – If you have asked the collection agencies not to call you at your work place, they are supposed to follow this. Even if they call you, they are not supposed to disclose facts about the debt to your employer or HR department. 
• Threatening to ruin your credit – They cannot threaten to ruin your credit as you are unable to pay the debt.
• Threaten to take you to jail – The debt collectors cannot threaten to take you to jail as debt is civil action not criminal.
• Threaten some action which they do not intend to carry out – The collection agencies cannot threaten to sue you or take any other such actions that they actually do not intend to carry out.
• Disclosing debt facts to others – They cannot disclose your debt facts to anybody else even if they are calling others to get information regarding your whereabouts.

So, here are some of the rules and prohibitions on the collection agencies so that they cannot harass you over debt collections. If you think that any of the collection agencies have violated any of these FDCPA laws, you can file complaint with the FTC.

Getting details of FDCPA

You will be able to get the best and most authentic details with regards to the FDCPA laws from the website of the Federal Trade Commission. They have a file on the whole details of the FDCPA and the laws. They also have a page that clears out all of the facts regarding the debt collectors and the FDCPA laws. You will easily be able to get all of your queries answered from their website.