This research guide provides information about your rights under Texas and federal law when dealing with debt and debt collectors.
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The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) gives you many rights when dealing with third-party debt collectors. This page will explain these rights and tell you how to use them.
Note: Because the federal FDCPA only applies to third-party debt collectors and not original creditors, you do not have these same rights when dealing with the original person or business to whom you owe money.
Under the FDCPA, you can inform the third-party debt collector that you want them to stop contacting you. The law requires them to cease contact unless they are letting you know that they are going to stop attempts to collect the debt or that they are taking specific legal actions against you, like filing a lawsuit.
Under this section of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, third-party debt collectors must cease contact with the debtor upon their request.
This page from the federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau explains your right to request that a third-party debt collector stop calling you about your debt.
Before sending a debt collector a cease contact letter, you should consider the pros and cons of doing so.
This sample letter from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be used to request that a third-party debt collector cease contact. Note that clicking on the link above will download a Microsoft Word document file.
This page offers sample text for a couple of different "cease contact" letters to debt collectors, depending on the circumstances.
Page 134 of this excellent book about managing debt and financial problems has a sample letter requesting that a debt collector cease contact. Note that you will need to register for a free library account in order to access it.
If a third-party debt collector contacts you and you're not sure that you actually owe the debt or think that the debt collector is mistaken about some part of it, you can ask for a validation of the debt. The debt collector must inform you of this right and you must make the request within 30 days of the first contact.
After receiving your request, the debt collector must provide you with information about the debt, including the amount owed and to whom it was owed. Collection activities must stop until they provide this information.
This section of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act discusses a consumer's right to have the debt collector validate a debt for accurracy. Collection efforts must cease while it's being investigated.
Legal publisher Nolo explains what a debt validation is and how to request one from a third-party debt collector.
This page explains what you should do if you don't think that you owe a debt a debt collector is contacting you about.
This sample letter from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can help you request more information about a debt that a third-party debt collector has contacted you about. Note that clicking on the link above will download a Microsoft Word document file.
Page 132 of this excellent book about managing debt and financial problems has a sample letter requesting validation of a debt. Note that you will need to register for a free library account in order to access it.
If a debt collector violates one of the laws listed above, there are a few things you can do. Federal law allows you to sue the debt collector.You can also file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.
This section of the FDCPA allows the Federal Trade Commission to enforce federal debt collection laws.
The Federal Trade Commission accepts complaints regarding the collection practices of third-party debt collectors.
