How to Deal with Harassment from Debt Collectors in Florida

If you have fallen into debt due to a mortgage, credit card, student loan, or car loan, a debt collector will likely start calling you. While all borrowers dread these calls, many do not realize that debt collectors violate their rights. Debt collectors are allowed to contact you to try and recover the debt in many situations. However, they are not allowed to harass you or otherwise violate your rights. If a debt collector in Florida has contacted you, it is essential that you speak with a debt defense lawyer who can help you stop debt collectors.

Understand Debt Collection Harassment

Both state and federal law protects borrowers from harassing, abusive, or deceptive tactics from debt collectors. Specifically, these laws are the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA), which protects consumers throughout the country. The state law that protects Floridians is the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA). Both of these laws are in place to protect debtors and to ensure that they are treated fairly. The laws became necessary when debt collectors started to use abusive and fraudulent methods to try and recover debt from consumers.

Debt collectors will use many different tactics to try and collect on debt, and many of them are illegal. Strategies included in the FDCPA and the FCCPA that are a violation of the law include:

• Threatening a wage garnishment if they have no intention of following through on it
• Threatening you with liens against your property, or to impound certain property, such as a vehicle, without the intention of following through
• Threatening an arrest
• Threatening to take any legal action against you without intending to follow through on the threat
• Contacting relatives, friends, or neighbors about your debt
• Calling multiple times a day
• Contacting you at your place of employment
• Trying to collect a debt you do not owe
• Trying to collect on a debt they can no longer recover because the statute of limitations has expired
• Calling before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.
• Trying to collect on a debt that was discharged in a bankruptcy case
• Contacting you after asking them to stop
• Being dishonest about the amount of the debt
• Contacting you when you have legal representation
• Using deception, such as lying to you, to try and recover debt
• Using abusive or improper language

The above tactics are a violation of your rights. If a debt collector has engaged in them, it is critical that you speak to a debt defense lawyer as soon as possible.

File a Complaint Against the Debt Collection Company

If you believe a debt collector has violated your rights, you can file a consumer complaint with the appropriate government agency. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigates and enforces violations of the federal FDCPA. The Florida Office of Financial Regulations investigates FCCPA violations. It is important to file a consumer complaint against any unethical debt collector. In addition to your complaint, you may also be able to file a lawsuit against a debt collection company.

Whether you are filing a consumer complaint or a lawsuit to recover damages, the steps you take immediately after the harassment are crucial. First and foremost, you must document the deceptive, abusive, misleading, or harassing behavior you experienced from the debt collector. This documentation can include emails, letters, and even texts from the debt collector.

If you send any documents to the debt collector, particularly if it involves you denying the debt, asking the company to verify the debt, or requesting that the debt collection company stop contacting you, it is crucial to take copies of these so you have these documents for your reference.

It is just as important to remember that you cannot legally record phone calls unless you have the other party’s permission to do so. Instead, just take notes about any contact you have had with the debt collection company. Write down where you received the call, when you received the call, and a summary of what was said during the call. These notes will help you when you start working with a debt defense lawyer who can then determine if your rights have been violated.

File a Lawsuit to Collect Damages

When a debt collector violates your rights, you then have the right to file a lawsuit against them to collect damages. Under the FDCPA, you may be able to obtain actual or statutory damages of up to $1,000. Under this law, you can also recover your attorney’s fees and any expense you incurred as a result of pursuing the lawsuit. To obtain these damages, you will have to show that you incurred harm as a result of the debt collection’s wrongful conduct.

Under the FCCPA, you can also obtain up to $1,000 in statutory damages, as well as your attorney’s fees and any cost you incurred as a result of the lawsuit. Actual damages are the losses you have suffered as a result of the debt collection harassment.

It is not always easy to determine the amount of damages you are entitled to because often, the losses sustained in debt collection cases are annoyance, aggravation, frustration, and other emotional issues. While you can claim emotional distress, these damages are not easy to quantify. A Florida debt defense lawyer can evaluate these damages and give you the best chance of success while trying to obtain them.

Our Debt Defense Lawyers in Florida Will Protect Your Rights

If a debt collection company has been contacting you over unpaid debts, they may have broken the law and you may not even be aware of it. At Loan Lawyers, our debt defense lawyer in Fort Lauderdale can identify if your rights have been violated and if so, help you take the legal action that will protect you and allow you to obtain the full damages you deserve. Call us now at (954) 523-4357 or fill out our online form to request a free consultation and to learn more about how we can prepare the defense your case needs.