What Are My Rights When a Debt Collector Calls?

A debt collector may not call you at an unusual or inconvenient time or place.

Unless the collector knows otherwise, the law assumes that calls between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time are convenient for you. A collector also may not call you at work if the collector knows or has reason to know your employer prohibits such calls.

If you have a lawyer handling the debt, the collector must speak to the lawyer instead of you, unless the lawyer does not respond within a reasonable time or agrees to let the collector call you directly. The collector may contact only you, your lawyer, the creditor, the creditor’s lawyer, or the collector’s own lawyer; contacting others without your consent or a court’s permission is generally prohibited.

You can stop most calls by sending a written request to the collector asking them to cease further communication about the debt. Once the collector receives your written notice, they may not contact you again about that debt except to say their efforts are ending, to tell you they or the creditor may use certain remedies, or to tell you they intend to use a specific remedy. If you mail the notice, it is effective when the collector receives it.

Within five days after the collector’s first contact with you, the collector must send you a written notice that includes:

• the amount of the debt,
• the name of the creditor you owe,
• a statement that unless you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days the debt will be assumed valid,
• a statement that if you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days the collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of any judgment and mail it to you, and
• a statement that, if you request in writing within 30 days, the collector will provide the name and address of the original creditor if it is different from the current creditor.

If you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, the collector must stop trying to collect the disputed amount until they mail you verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor. The fact that you did not dispute the debt cannot be used as evidence that you owe it.

The law bars debt collectors from using any false, deceptive, or misleading representation when collecting a debt.

Examples include:

• pretending to be affiliated with or endorsed by any government or official agency;
• misrepresenting the amount, character, or legal status of the debt, or what the collector may lawfully collect;
• falsely implying that you committed a crime to shame or embarrass you;
• pretending to be or implying that someone is an attorney;
• threatening to take actions they do not intend to take or cannot legally take, such as arrest, imprisonment, or seizing property;
• falsely implying that documents are legal process or court-authorized when they are not;
• using a business name other than the collector’s true name;
• communicating false credit information, including failing to note that a debt is disputed; and
• sending communications that look like they come from a court or government agency when they do not.

Collectors must also clearly state in their first written and, if oral, first oral communication that they are attempting to collect a debt and that any information they obtain will be used for that purpose; later communications must make clear they are from a debt collector.

A debt collector may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect a debt.

Examples include:

• collecting amounts not expressly allowed by your agreement or by law;
• accepting a postdated check or other payment instrument dated more than five days in the future unless the collector gives you written notice between three and ten business days before depositing it;
• threatening or instituting criminal prosecution based on a postdated check;
• depositing or threatening to deposit a postdated check before its date; and
• adding charges for communications, such as collect calls or telegram fees, by hiding the true purpose of the call.