Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Iowa Debt Collection Practices Act you are protected from harassment. You can also stop the calls and recover money damages for violations.
FDCPA/Iowa Debt Collection Violations
*Repeated telephone calls intended to harass.
*Phone calls to friends, family, roommates, co-workers, your boss, neighbors or others telling them about your debt.
*Calls at inconvenient times.
Example- If you tell the creditor or collection agency it is inconvenient to call after 3pm when your kids get home from school, they have to stop calling after 3pm.
*Telephone calls at work after you have told them your employer does not allow such call.
Attorney Fee Contingent on Recovery
We handle these cases on a contingency fee. So your payment to Jeff is contingent on winning your case. If you don't win your case, you pay Jeff nothing. If you do win, you pay Jeff a percentage of the recovery.
25.5.10
What does the FDCPA Prohibit here in Iowa?
Congress passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in 1977 to respond to unfair debt collection by collection agencies. The act protects consumers (business debt is excluded) from collection agencies, not from original creditors. So if you are getting 10 calls a day from Capital One, that is not a violation. If you are getting 10 calls a day from the collection agency for Capital One, that is a violation. Fortunately, the Iowa Debt Collection Practices Act does cover original creditors.
The most common violations we see with the FDCPA involve improper telephone calls and improper collection letters.
Telephone Calls
Debt Collectors can not:
*Call someone else and tell them you owe money
If they call your family, boss, neighbor, roommate etc. all they are allowed to do is try to locate you.
*Call you when you have told them it is an inconvenient time
So if you ask them not to call until your son goes to afternoon kindergarten at noon, they have to stop calling you in the morning.
*Call you many times throughout the day
Congress considers this harassment.
*Call you at work after you have told them your employer does not allow these calls
So if you get collector calls at work, note the date, time, who called and tell them you are not allowed to get these calls at work.
Letters
If you really want all contact to stop, you can write the collection agency a letter, simply tell them you can not pay or are disputing the debt and ask them to stop contacting you. After that they are allowed to send you one letter confirming they are ceasing contact. At that point they can either move the case to lawsuit or drop it. If they continue collection efforts, they have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Sample Letter
ABC Collection Service
1234 Main St.
Des Moines, Iowa 50265
Re: Your collection for American Express Account No. 1234-5678-9101-1121
Dear Sir or Madam,
I refuse or am unable to pay this debt. Please cease collection activity.
Jane Simmons
1234 College Street
Des Moines, IA 50309
Of course, in some cases the collection agency will refer your case for lawsuit at that point, but they are in violation of the FDCPA if they keep contacting you after you have sent the letter. Be sure to keep a copy of the letter you send. If they have a fax #, fax it too and keep the receipt. If you can, send the letter certified and keep the receipt.
Also, keep all collection letters you receive so you can bring them in for Jeff to look at. The first letter you receive from each collection agency is the most important. For example, if they don't send you a letter within 5 days of their first phone contact with specific disclaimers included, that is a violation. Hence, the phone logs are important and the letters.
These claims win or lose based on PROOF. So if you keep good notes on calls you receive: dates, times, name of caller, name of collection agency, who they are collecting for & what they say you are much more likely to succeed.
The most common violations we see with the FDCPA involve improper telephone calls and improper collection letters.
Telephone Calls
Debt Collectors can not:
*Call someone else and tell them you owe money
If they call your family, boss, neighbor, roommate etc. all they are allowed to do is try to locate you.
*Call you when you have told them it is an inconvenient time
So if you ask them not to call until your son goes to afternoon kindergarten at noon, they have to stop calling you in the morning.
*Call you many times throughout the day
Congress considers this harassment.
*Call you at work after you have told them your employer does not allow these calls
So if you get collector calls at work, note the date, time, who called and tell them you are not allowed to get these calls at work.
Letters
If you really want all contact to stop, you can write the collection agency a letter, simply tell them you can not pay or are disputing the debt and ask them to stop contacting you. After that they are allowed to send you one letter confirming they are ceasing contact. At that point they can either move the case to lawsuit or drop it. If they continue collection efforts, they have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Sample Letter
ABC Collection Service
1234 Main St.
Des Moines, Iowa 50265
Re: Your collection for American Express Account No. 1234-5678-9101-1121
Dear Sir or Madam,
I refuse or am unable to pay this debt. Please cease collection activity.
Jane Simmons
1234 College Street
Des Moines, IA 50309
Of course, in some cases the collection agency will refer your case for lawsuit at that point, but they are in violation of the FDCPA if they keep contacting you after you have sent the letter. Be sure to keep a copy of the letter you send. If they have a fax #, fax it too and keep the receipt. If you can, send the letter certified and keep the receipt.
Also, keep all collection letters you receive so you can bring them in for Jeff to look at. The first letter you receive from each collection agency is the most important. For example, if they don't send you a letter within 5 days of their first phone contact with specific disclaimers included, that is a violation. Hence, the phone logs are important and the letters.
These claims win or lose based on PROOF. So if you keep good notes on calls you receive: dates, times, name of caller, name of collection agency, who they are collecting for & what they say you are much more likely to succeed.
24.5.10
Iowa Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The FDCPA only covers collection agencies. Thankfully here in Iowa we have a statute that covers the original creditors involved in unfair debt collection. Many creditors think they can harass you because they know they are not covered by the FDCPA. Many taken the time to look at Iowa law.
Under the Iowa Consumer Code creditors are in violation if they:
*Tell someone else about your debt (family member, roommate, neighbor, co-worker, boss etc,)
*Call you at times you have told them are inconvenient. So if you tell them evenings after 5pm are inconvenient, they can only call before 5.
*Call you repeatedly throughout the day to harass you.
*Call you at work if you have told them it is inconvenient to call you there.
Under the Iowa Consumer Code creditors are in violation if they:
*Tell someone else about your debt (family member, roommate, neighbor, co-worker, boss etc,)
*Call you at times you have told them are inconvenient. So if you tell them evenings after 5pm are inconvenient, they can only call before 5.
*Call you repeatedly throughout the day to harass you.
*Call you at work if you have told them it is inconvenient to call you there.
FDCPA Cases - Illegal Debt Collection
Workplace Communications
Threatening to contact your employer, violates the FDCPA, Raimondi v. McAllister & Assoc. Inc., 50 F. Supp. 2nd 825 (N.D. Ill. 1999).
When calling your work, collector can only request your location information. So if the collector asks for your date of hire, pay rate etc. as well, that violates the FDCPA, Shaver v. Trauner, 1998 U.S. Dist. Lexis 19647 (C.D. Ill. May 29, 1998).
Collector liable for violation of FDCPA where bill sent to workplace showed "Final Demand for Payment" through envelope, Kleczy v. First Fed. Credit Control, 21 Ohio App. 3d 56, 486 N.E.2d 204 (1984).
Communicating with Third Parties
Leaving messages disclosing the debt on an answering machine used by others violates the FDCPA, FTC v. Check Enforcement, 205 WL 1677480 (D.N.J. July 18, 2005).
Leaving collection agency name and telephone number with neighbor is illegal debt collection, violated FDCPA, West v. Nationwide Credit, Inc. 998 F. Supp. 642 (W.D.N.C. 1998).
If a collection agency violates these rules here in Iowa, the FDCPA provides for actual damages and attorney fees.
Jeff Mathias is an Iowa Bankruptcy Attorney handling Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases from 4800 Mills Civic Parkway, Suite 218, West Des Moines, IA 50265. Jeff's office phone is 515-261-7526.
Fair Debt Collection websites: You can actually read the entire FDCPA in a few hours, it is one of those rare statutes that seems to have been written to be understood. Cornell University also has a regularly updates Fair Debt Collection website. Cornell also has a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Article. The GSA FDCPA Q&A is good.
Threatening to contact your employer, violates the FDCPA, Raimondi v. McAllister & Assoc. Inc., 50 F. Supp. 2nd 825 (N.D. Ill. 1999).
When calling your work, collector can only request your location information. So if the collector asks for your date of hire, pay rate etc. as well, that violates the FDCPA, Shaver v. Trauner, 1998 U.S. Dist. Lexis 19647 (C.D. Ill. May 29, 1998).
Collector liable for violation of FDCPA where bill sent to workplace showed "Final Demand for Payment" through envelope, Kleczy v. First Fed. Credit Control, 21 Ohio App. 3d 56, 486 N.E.2d 204 (1984).
Communicating with Third Parties
Leaving messages disclosing the debt on an answering machine used by others violates the FDCPA, FTC v. Check Enforcement, 205 WL 1677480 (D.N.J. July 18, 2005).
Leaving collection agency name and telephone number with neighbor is illegal debt collection, violated FDCPA, West v. Nationwide Credit, Inc. 998 F. Supp. 642 (W.D.N.C. 1998).
If a collection agency violates these rules here in Iowa, the FDCPA provides for actual damages and attorney fees.
Jeff Mathias is an Iowa Bankruptcy Attorney handling Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases from 4800 Mills Civic Parkway, Suite 218, West Des Moines, IA 50265. Jeff's office phone is 515-261-7526.
Fair Debt Collection websites: You can actually read the entire FDCPA in a few hours, it is one of those rare statutes that seems to have been written to be understood. Cornell University also has a regularly updates Fair Debt Collection website. Cornell also has a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Article. The GSA FDCPA Q&A is good.
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