Collection Harassment (FDCPA)

Federal and state laws, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), require that debt collectors treat you with truth, fairness, dignity, and respect. If they don’t, you have the right to sue them for damages.

In North Carolina, debt collectors cannot do any of the following:

• Try to collect money you don’t owe.
• Talk to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, or employers about your debt.
• Call you at work after being told not to call you there.
• Threaten wage garnishment, property seizure, arrest, or violence.
• Insult, shout, curse, or swear at you or anyone else who answers the phone.
• Lie, threaten, humiliate, or otherwise harass you or your family members in any way.
• Leave abusive or obscene voicemail messages.
• Threaten to report false information to the credit bureaus.
• Call you after receiving a letter asking them to cease and desist from calling.

Damages

Under the FDCPA, a debt collector who engages in illegal conduct may have to pay you actual damages, statutory damages of up to $1,000, and attorney’s fees and costs, if you win your case. Under North Carolina’s state debt collection laws, collectors who harass consumers may additionally be responsible for actual damages, up to $4,000 in statutory damages per violation, and attorney’s fees and costs, if the consumer wins the case.