Debt Collection: The Ugly Side of Foreclosure

As the banks, credit card companies, and the debt collectors obtain judgments against Floridians, debt collection becomes an increasingly important and potentially costly battle. Unfortunately, not all of these companies play by the same rules. In its infinite wisdom, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act which prohibits debt collectors from engaging in certain types of activities that are viewed as harassing by consumers.
Debt collectors routinely violate the law by engaging in activities which are intended to embarrass, humiliate, harass, and scare consumers. Just today a client called my office and had questions about the shady practices of a bank trying to collect money from her. The good news is that if a court determines that consumers were the victim of a prohibited debt collection practice, that consumer may be entitled to money damages.
Here is my List of the Top Seven (7) Prohibited Debt Collection Practices:
In collecting consumer debts, no person shall:
(1) Willfully communicate with the debtor or any member of her or his family with such frequency as can reasonably be expected to harass the debtor or her or his family, or willfully engage in other conduct which can reasonably be expected to abuse or harass the debtor or any member of her or his family.
(2) Use profane, obscene, vulgar, or willfully abusive language in communicating with the debtor or any member of her or his family.
(3) Claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a debt when such person knows that the debt is not legitimate, or assert the existence of some other legal right when such person knows that the right does not exist.
(4) Refuse to provide adequate identification of herself or himself or her or his employer or other entity whom she or he represents if requested to do so by a debtor from whom she or he is collecting or attempting to collect a consumer debt.
(5) Mail any communication to a debtor in an envelope or postcard with words typed, written, or printed on the outside of the envelope or postcard calculated to embarrass the debtor. An example of this would be an envelope addressed to ” Deadbeat, Jane Doe” or ” Deadbeat, John Doe.”
(6) Communicate with the debtor between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the debtor’s time zone without the prior consent of the debtor.
(7) Communicate with a debtor if the person knows that the debtor is represented by an attorney
If you have been an victim of any of these practices, contact an attorney who is familiar with these types of violations and can fight for your rights as a consumer.