FDCPA Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) (effective 1978, amended 1986) applies to everyone who collects consumer debts for someone else, including attorneys who collect consumer debts. While creditors collecting their own accounts are excluded from the act, most creditors follow the act's mandates and prohibitions in the interest of using sound and fair business practices. Debt collection prohibitions under the act include:
 
          ·Threatening or using violence.

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Using obscene or profane language.

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Publishing a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay their debts.

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Causing a telephone to ring, or engaging a debtor in telephone conversation, repeatedly or continuously.
         The act also places the following restrictions on debt collector contacts:

          ·Contacts should be limited to between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

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A debtor may be contacted at work unless the collector knows or has reason to know that the employer prohibits an
         employee from receiving such calls or that it is inconvenient for the debtor to receive debt collection calls at work.

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If a debtor is represented by an attorney, a collector cannot communicate with the debtor unless the attorney grants
          permission or fails to respond to the collector's communications within a reasonable time.

Note: In addition, the act specifies: which third-parties can be contacted about a debtor for debt collection; how and when collectors can communicate to third-parties for debtor location information; and, what acts are considered to be false, misleading or unfair.