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In a NutshellThe Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits harassment, abuse, and other behavior intended to bully debtors. If a debt collector is violating the FDCPA in their attempts to collect money from you, you have the right to sue them. In this article, we explain how to sue an abusive debt collector, what an FDCPA lawsuit can and cannot help you with, and what other options you have to stop communication from collectors.
In 1978, Congress passed an important amendment to the Consumer Credit Protection Act to protect debtors from abusive third-party debt collection agencies. This amendment was called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and it prohibits harassment, abuse, and other behavior intended to bully debtors.
If a debt collector is violating the FDCPA in their attempts to collect money from you, you have the right to sue them. In this article, we explain how to sue an abusive debt collector, what an FDCPA lawsuit can and cannot help you with, and what other options you have to stop communication from collectors.
If you’re being contacted by a debt collector, you have rights under the FDCPA. The FDCPA is a federal law that limits what a debt collector can do while attempting to collect money from you. Most importantly, if a debt collector violates the FDCPA while trying to collect money from you, you can sue them.
So, what rights do you have under the FDCPA?
Verifying that the debt is valid is very important. To verify the debt, collectors must provide the following information in a validation letter:
The FDCPA is the most comprehensive consumer protection law that regulates third-party debt collection agencies’ activities. It applies to various kinds of debt, including student loans, personal loans, and credit card debt.
Again, if a debt collector is violating these rules while attempting to collect money from you, you can exercise your rights under the FDCPA by suing them. To do this, you must sue them before the deadline, called a statute of limitations, passes. If you miss this deadline, you’ll lose your right to sue the collector for their violations. Under the FDCPA, you have one year to file a lawsuit for FDCPA violations.
You can file an FDCPA lawsuit in either state or federal court. Consumer protection laws also exist at the state level, so you may consider filing your complaint in state court since they’ll have more experience applying state law. Even if you do file in state court, you’ll still be able to bring your FDCPA claims.
On the other hand, federal courts will most likely be more familiar with the FDCPA since it’s a federal law. For this reason, you may choose to file in federal court. And, even if you choose state court, the collection agency may request that the lawsuit be moved to federal court. This can happen because even though state courts can hear cases on federal law, federal courts have the right to take cases that interpret federal law away from state courts.
Legally speaking, you don’t need to hire a lawyer to represent yourself in court against a debt collector. However, hiring a lawyer can provide some great advantages.
First, lawyers are legally trained professionals who know the ins and outs of court proceedings. They’ll be able to handle the paperwork and communications that typically cause debtors a lot of stress in the process. Most importantly, they’ll be able to give you expert legal advice as you navigate the lawsuit.
Second, even if you don’t have a lot of money, some lawyers offer their clients representation on what’s called a contingency fee basis. Under this type of arrangement, a lawyer does not charge their clients any money out of pocket. Instead, they only get paid if their client wins. Typically, they’ll take a percentage of the money awarded to their client as payment.
If you’re considering hiring a lawyer, you’ll want to find a lawyer who has the right experience to represent you in an FDCPA lawsuit. So, you’ll want to search for a lawyer who has experience suing debt collectors under the FDCPA. These lawyers are often called consumer debt lawyers, debt collection lawyers, or debt collection harassment lawyers.
By filing a lawsuit against a debt collector for violating the FDCPA, you can recover money in the form of damages. That is, if you win your lawsuit, the debt collection agency will have to pay for any of the following:
You can also be awarded up to $1,000 in statutory damages and money for attorney’s fees and court costs.