The holiday season often means an increase in expenditures for the average American household. There are parties to plan, gifts to buy, travel arrangements to make, and so forth. Everything adds up to big receipts and possibly bigger debt. That also means debt collection agencies are going to go out in force to try to collect on debts.
If you want to give yourself and your family the ultimate gift this holiday season, give the gift of peace of mind you can only enjoy in knowing that creditors can’t harass you anymore. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and a few other federal statutes, you can exercise your rights to tell creditors to stop bothering you about your debt.
For example, the FDCPA allows you to prohibit a debt collector from contacting your workplace to try to speak with you. The same federal act also prevents creditors from even mentioning debt to your friends and family in the course of contacting you.
The key to using your rights under these statutes is connecting with a debt collector harassment attorney who knows the law inside and out. Your lawyer will be able to advise you on how to contact a debt collector to make them stop harassing you. If the harassment goes beyond the scope of what is legally allowed, or if it continues after you’ve taken the appropriate steps to stop it, then you can even talk to your attorney about filing a lawsuit against that debt collector. A debt collector harassment lawsuit that ends in your favor could force that debt collector to pay you a certain amount per violation. Now that would be a holiday gift worth remembering!
Are Creditors Even Allowed to Call You on a Holiday?
Debt collectors like to call each day to try to get you to admit to your debt or to pay it. Unfortunately, the persistence of a collection agency could mean they will call you on Christmas, Hanukah, or another major holiday. Is that even allowed, though?
There is no legal wording that says calling, texting, or emailing you about a debt on a holiday is prohibited. That is to say, if a debt collection agency calls you for the first time about your debt on Christmas Day, then they might be within their legal rights. If they repeatedly harass you about a debt, including making calls on a holiday for the purpose of making you feel uncomfortable, then there is a legal issue that needs to be addressed by an attorney.
Call (312) 313-1613 to speak with a creditor harassment lawyer from Atlas Consumer Law in Chicago. It would be our pleasure to help you free up your holiday season by shutting down creditor harassment.