A Debt Collector Called About a Debt That Isn't Mine!
The call comes on a Tuesday afternoon. A woman in Palm Beach County picks up and hears a stranger recite a $1,900 furniture store balance from a city she has never lived in. The middle initial is wrong. She says so. The caller says she can settle today for half.
People ask me the same question after a call like that: can a debt collector call me about a debt that isn't mine? A collector can make the first call before it knows the debt is wrong. Once you tell the collector the debt is not yours, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you a written dispute right, and a written dispute inside the 30-day window forces the collector to stop until it verifies the debt. Collecting a debt the collector knows is not legitimate also violates Florida law.
That is the answer. Here is how the situation usually plays out.
What happens after you say it isn't your debt?
The calls usually keep coming. In the typical file I see, the consumer explains on the first call that the account is not hers. The collector notes it, or says it does, and dials again a week later. A second agent reads the same script. By the third call, the tone shifts from "help us resolve this" to "we can report this."
Then the letter arrives. It lists a balance, a creditor name the consumer does not recognize, and a date to respond by. Many people throw it away because they already said no on the phone. That is the mistake. The phone call did nothing under federal law. The letter is where your rights start.
What can you recover?
The FDCPA allows actual damages, statutory damages of up to $1,000 per lawsuit, and your attorney's fees and costs if you win. That is 15 U.S.C. § 1692k. Actual damages can include the money you paid on a debt you did not owe and the time and stress of months of calls.
You have one year from the violation to sue. That is short. A consumer who waits until the account shows up on a mortgage application often finds the first calls are already outside the window, though later calls and the credit reporting may still be inside it.
Florida adds its own claim. The Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act makes it unlawful to claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a debt when the collector knows the debt is not legitimate. That is section 559.72(9), Florida Statutes. It reaches original creditors as well as third-party collectors, which matters when the furniture store itself is the one calling.
When does "not my debt" turn into a credit reporting problem?
Often within 60 days. The collector places the account on your Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion file, and a score that was 740 drops to 680 before you know why. At that point the collector is a furnisher under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and you have a second set of rights: a dispute to the bureau, a 30-day reinvestigation, and a claim against the collector if it verifies a debt it never checked. I wrote about mixed-file reporting two weeks ago, and the same-name stranger in that post is often how a "not my debt" call starts.
I handle these cases from Loxahatchee for consumers across South Florida, in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and in state court. If a collector is calling about a debt that is not yours, keep the letter, keep the voicemails, and write down every call. Then call or email Newhart Legal, P.A. Darren Newhart is a consumer protection attorney in Loxahatchee, Florida, and the consultation costs nothing.