In an effort to make collecting consumer debts fair, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was enacted. This is a very precise statute that limits third-party debt collectors’ actions and behaviors. It provides for how a debt must be clarified or verified and how a debtor can challenge a debt to ensure its validity.
According to the FDCPA, a third-party debt collector is an organization or individual who attempts to collect debts for another party or entity. The Act restricts the frequency of contact and the hours of the day that contact can be made. If you have been the victim of a scrupulous debt collector in Connecticut, you could be eligible to pursue a civil suit to seek damages. You should consult with an FDCPA attorney to get the help you need and to stop the harassment dead in its tracks.
Connecticut’s FDCPA Laws and How They Work
Connecticut’s FDCPA is designed to stop the abusive actions that are taken by collection agencies, collection attorneys, and debt buyers while they are attempting to recover debts that they believe they are owed. The Connecticut FDCPA was enacted to ensure that debtors are treated fairly and properly.
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The state has two sets of consumer debt collection laws – the Creditor’s Collection Practices Act (CCPA) and the Consumer collection Agencies (CCA) laws. These las are designed to guard against a larger variety of debt collection tactics while providing additional remedies beyond what is offered by the federally enacted FDCPA.
The Connecticut laws prohibit creditors from contacting a third party about your debt, suing you in a distant court to make defending the lawsuit difficult, hiring an unlicensed debt collector with knowledge, threatening to repossess items, levy your property or garnish wages if they cannot do so legally or have no intention of doing so at the time.
Differences in the General FDCPA and Connecticut FDCPA Laws
The state statute includes more people than the federal law. While the federal law refers to third-party debt collectors or organizations or individuals who are collecting a debt on behalf of the original creditor. In Connecticut, debt collectors include creditors who are using fictitious names, child support debt collectors who aren’t attorneys, those collecting debts who engage in false or deceptive assignments or debt accounts to hide, those who are private collectors attempting to collect city income taxes.
There are some people who are exempt from the state statute, including the employees of debt collectors, attorneys, loan servicers, and public officers and employees attempting to collect debts owed to the government. Many of those exempt by the state law aren’t exempt in the federal law.
Consulting with an FDCPA Attorney
If you have been the victim of illegal debt collection tactics in Connecticut, you should consult with an FDCPA attorney. A Connecticut FDCPA attorney will ensure your rights are protected and take the appropriate action against the collector who is violating the laws. An attorney can file a civil suit against the violating debt collector and you might be entitled to damages of up to $1,000 or even more.
When you enlist the help of an FDCPA attorney, you can stop the harassment in its tracks and end those annoying collection calls.