Debt Collector Harassment: Your Rights in Florida

A collector calls five times a day. It calls your boss. It says you'll be arrested, or it won't stop asking about a debt you never owed. Federal and Florida law forbid all of it, and both let you sue.

Newhart Legal represents Florida consumers against collection agencies, debt buyers, collection law firms, and creditors that collect their own accounts, in state and federal court.

Collection problems we handle

• Collection calls about a debt that isn't yours

• Calls that won't stop, or that come before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.

• Calls to your employer or neighbors about the debt

• Threats of arrest, jail, or lawsuits the collector can't or won't file

• Fees, interest, and charges the contract or the law doesn't allow

• Collecting a debt already paid, settled, or discharged in bankruptcy

• Lawsuits or threats over debts too old to sue on

• Collection agencies not registered with the State of Florida

What the law forbids

Two laws apply. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) covers collection agencies and others whose business is collecting debts. Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) reaches further: it covers any person collecting a consumer debt, including the original creditor.

• No harassing or abusive conduct, including calls meant to annoy or wear you down (15 U.S.C. § 1692d; Fla. Stat. § 559.72(7))

• No false or misleading statements about what you owe or what the collector can do (15 U.S.C. § 1692e)

• No collecting amounts the agreement or the law doesn't permit (15 U.S.C. § 1692f(1)), and no trying to collect a debt the collector knows is not legitimate (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(9))

• No calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. without your consent (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(1); Fla. Stat. § 559.72(17))

• No discussing your debt with your employer, neighbors, or other third parties, with narrow exceptions (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b); Fla. Stat. § 559.72(4))

• No contacting you directly once the collector knows a lawyer represents you on the debt (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(2); Fla. Stat. § 559.72(18))

• Most collection agencies must register with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation before collecting from Floridians (Fla. Stat. § 559.553)

Your right to make them prove it

Within five days after a collector first contacts you, it must send a written notice stating the amount, the creditor, and your right to dispute (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)). If you dispute in writing within 30 days of receiving that notice, the collector must stop collecting until it mails you verification (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)). Call before you send that dispute. What it says, and how it's sent, matter later.

What you can recover

Under the FDCPA, you can recover your actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000, and your attorney's fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1692k). The FCCPA adds its own statutory damages up to $1,000, actual damages, punitive damages the court allows, and fees and costs (Fla. Stat. § 559.77(2)).

Actual damages include out-of-pocket losses and emotional distress where the facts support it. You have one year from the violation to sue under the FDCPA (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d)) and two years under the FCCPA (Fla. Stat. § 559.77(4)).