Your Rights Against Creditor Harassment
Anyone from whom you have borrowed money or agreed to pay for services – whether it be a bank, a credit card company, a hospital or others – has a legal right to pursue you for payment of a debt. You do, however, have rights which impose limits on how far your creditors can go in attempting to get you to pay. These rights are enumerated in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), a law which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1978. The FDCPA not only outlines a number of different actions which creditors and debt collection agencies are prohibited from engaging in, but it also gives you legal recourse to put an end to harassment and abuse by suing in court. With success, you could even stand to receive monetary damages.
Under the FDCPA, a creditor cannot contact you earlier than 8:00 in the morning or later than 9:00 in the evening. You cannot be spoken to with abusive or profane language. You cannot falsely be threatened with arrest or legal action. Your debt cannot be discussed with unauthorized third parties such as neighbors and coworkers. You cannot be contacted at work if you have previously given notice that this is unacceptable. Your name cannot be published in a list of bad debts.
Helping You Sue for Creditor Harassment
If you have experienced any of the above or similar types of abuse or harassment, contact us for help from a Gainesville bankruptcy attorney. We can help you with a collections defense strategy or with declaring bankruptcy, as well as representing you with your creditors and collection agencies. In fact, as soon as you inform them that you have hired an attorney from The Law Offices of Justin McMurray, P.A., they will legally be prohibited from continuing to contact you, which is another protection provided by the FDCPA. If it can be proven that you have been the victim of any type of FDCPA violation, you may be able to recover at least $1,000 in monetary damages in addition to attorney fees and court costs. Contact us now for a free consultation to discuss the situation and to begin working on your case.