EXPERIENCE COUNTS
Elite Legal Practice attorneys will help you chart the best course of action.
The Consumer Rights Lawyers at Elite Legal Practice will take immediate action on your behalf to help ease the stress from harassing collectors. When our clients are facing harassing third party debt collector calls due to unpaid credit card bills, medical bills, delinquent automotive payments, business balances, outstanding timeshares, private student loans, judgments, summonses, lawsuits, and other debts, the first step we take is to send out a notice of representation to such third party debt collectors to contact Elite Legal Practice, not our clients. Elite Legal Practice is a nationwide consumer rights law firm, dedicated to defending and protecting the rights of our clients. We have skilled attorneys who are licensed to practice law coast to coast. We are focused on providing services to help our clients who have been treated unfairly. Our practice specializes in stopping creditor abuse, while specifically focusing on violations stemming from the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and the Credit Card Act of 2009. We also assist clients when bankruptcy is the most appropriate option based on their circumstances. Each consumer rights lawyer at our firm understands the intricacies of the framework of laws in this legal area and knows how to stop abusive practices as quickly and effectively as possible. The FCRA, FDCPA and TCPA include regulations that creditors and collectors are legally obligated to follow. When a company does not adhere to the law, hiring a consumer rights law firm can not only stop the abuse you are suffering — your consumer rights lawyer can also help you stand up for your rights and protect other consumers from becoming victims in the process. If a creditor is misreporting on your credit report, or creditors and collectors are contacting you inappropriately on your cell phone, home phone or work phone, please contact our consumer rights law firm. An experienced consumer rights lawyer will work with you to discuss your options to resolve the situation.
WE STOP COLLECTOR HARASSMENT
If you have an account that has been assigned to a debt collector to collect the balance from you, it’s often a challenging time. You may be having a difficult time financially and that can be frightening. And if a harassing collector contacts you about your accounts, you may have concerns about whether the collector is legitimate, whether the account is yours, or if the amount the collector is seeking to collect is accurate. Our consumer rights attorneys may be able to stop the harassing collector calls.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act makes it illegal for collectors to harass or threaten you when trying to collect on an account. In addition, on November 30, 2021, the new Debt Collection Rule became effective. This rule clarifies how debt collectors can communicate with you, including what information they’re required to provide at the outset of collection about the account, your rights in collection, and how you can exercise those rights.
COLLECTOR VIOLATIONS
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that protects you from debt collection companies that use bad or sneaky tactics to get you to pay. This law only applies to debts that are related to personal, family, or household expenses, not business debts. It also doesn't cover collections by the company you originally owed money to. Debt collectors, such as collection agencies, debt buyers, and lawyers, must follow the rules of the FDCPA. If they contact you about a debt, they must provide certain information about it.
When a collector first communicates with you, or shortly thereafter, they’re generally required to provide certain information about the account. When the information is provided in writing or electronically, it is called a validation notice, and it will generally include information like: ▪ Name and mailing information of the collector ▪ Name of the creditor to whom the account is owed ▪ Account number (if any) associated with the account ▪ An itemization of the current amount of the accounts that reflects interest, fees, payments, and credits since a particular date that you may be able to recognize or verify with records ▪ The current amount of the accounts as of when the validation notice is provided ▪ Information about your collection rights including how to dispute the accounts. How often can a collector call me? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits debt collectors from repeatedly or continuously calling you with the intent to harass, oppress, or abuse you. Under the Debt Collection Rules, collectors are presumed to violate the law if they place a telephone call to you about a particular debt: ▪ More than seven times within a seven-day period, or ▪ Within seven days after engaging in a phone conversation with you about a particular debt ▪ A collector can contact you only from 8am to 9pm (local time). ▪ A collector cannot try to collect on an expire debt. ▪ For California Residents this is four years from the date of default. ▪ A collector cannot contact you at work when asked not to. ▪ A collector cannot reveal any of your debt related information to your friends, family members, acquaintances, or anyone else you might know. ▪ A collector cannot threaten you, harm you, use abusive language, or harass you in any way. ▪ A collector cannot lie about your debt. These call frequency presumptions only apply to calls placed by the collector to you. They don’t apply to text messages, emails, and other types of media, those medias have other limitations. Always contact our Consumer Rights Lawyers if they are violating your rights. When can a collector report my accounts to a credit reporting company? There are certain steps collectors must take before they can report an account to a credit reporting company. They must do any of the following: ▪ Speak to you by telephone or in person about the debt ▪ Mail a letter or send an electronic communication about the account and wait for a reasonable amount of time, generally 14 days, in case it is returned as undeliverable If the collector sends you a validation notice, it means that they’ve satisfied their requirement to contact you and, in general, can begin reporting the account to credit reporting companies, provided they follow other laws about credit reporting. Can a harassing collector contact me on social media about an account? Collectors must follow certain rules if they contact you through social media, including: ▪ Keeping the messages private – Their messages to you must be private and not viewable by the general public or by your friends, contacts, or followers. ▪ Identifying themselves as a collector – If a collector attempts to send you a private message requesting to add you as a friend or contact, the collector must identify themself as a collector. ▪ Providing a way for you to opt out of their communications – They must also provide you, in each message, a simple way to opt out of receiving further communications from them on that social media platform.