The Federal Trade Commission which acts as a watch dog for the consumer enacted the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act in March of 1978. This Act along with the Fair Credit Reporting Act should be used in conjunction and every consumer should be familiar enough with it to be able to use it if they are being harassed or know someone who is being harassed by a bill collector. Some basic points of the act are:

• The collector can not call before 8 a.m. (your time) and after 9 p.m. (your time)

• The collector can not use abusive, deceptive or unfair collection practices

• The collector can not threaten to take legal action they can not or will not intend to take. For example my friend contacted me because the car loan people called her six days after her due date stating that they would repossess her car because her car note was late. First of all, the car note was not after 30 days. Secondly, the company did not intend to repossess the vehicle. It was the last day of the month and that representative was trying to reach their goal. The representative made two mistakes - lying and lying to my friend because now I have to write a letter to the FTC because she clearly broke the law. She threatened to take legal action that her company did not intend to take.

• The collector can not discuss the debt with anyone other than the consumer – a spouse or the attorney for the debtor. There are local department stores that will call your neighbor’s home pretending to look for you – and try to embarrass you to pay your bills. They will never discuss your situation, however you are not really sure are you? And you never want another telephone call to go to your neighbor do you? These collectors have sophisticated data bases that can search by street addresses and for those with unlisted telephone numbers. Why? There are departments at each credit card company called skip tracing and they can find you if they want you. They cross reference public utility companies such as the cable, light and gas companies – other companies.

• They can not discuss a debt with a third party such as children, co-workers, and employers – so when the collector calls your job and speaks to one of your co-workers and discusses your debt, ask the co-worker to write the time, name of the representative, the call back number – so that you can write the company with a certified, notarized letter and send a copy to the company and a copy to the FTC. A possible lawsuit, against the company will make the company negotiate better terms and possibly a smaller balance for the amount owed.

Many people may not believe me, but on the FTC website a Press Release dated April 17, 2002 states: “Houston based debt collector agrees to pay $240,000 to settle charges of violating Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.” “According to the FTC’s complaint, United Recovery Systems on numerous occasions, in connection with the collection of debts in both English or Spanish, the company’s debt collectors communicated with consumers at improper ties or places or engaged with third parties. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace. Call 1/877-FTC-HELP for more information.