As these economic times start to stutter and your monetary security slides, it’s going to be far too common that you’ll have debt collectors calling. It’s even more of a guarantee that most of the time, you’ll find the collectors violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (FDCPA).

Before attending law school, I worked in the collections department at Discover Card. I worked my way up from a 30 day delinquent account specialist, to an account manager handling delinquencies 6 months or beyond. I worked diligently for "the firm" and earned a decent "bonus" on those cardmembers I could bring current, have make a payment, or establish reoccurring auto-payment deductions. The goal was to bring the individuals up-to-date on their payments, although maintaining some delinquency (with it’s late fee/over-the-limit and finance charge consequences) was not discouraged. We attended regular "training" session, but rarely discussed actual debt collection proceedures or violations. We had screeners reviewing random calls, and would receive warnings for any "violations." Quite simply, on more than one occassion, I violated some of the no-no’s of the FDCPA either out of ignorance, or out of a perceived need to push the cardmember into making payments.

The FDCPA is a brilliant piece of legislation, and coupled with the Uniform Commercial Credit Code (U3C), Oklahoma’s consumers receive some beefed up credit protection. Here’s some general (basic) information you should know about your rights as a debtor/consumer under FDCPA or U3C:

1. When contacting you via telephone, collection agencies must give you the "mini-Miranda": "the telephone call is an attempt to collect a debt, and that anything you say will be used for that purpose."
2. Any threats to garnish your wages or attempts to collect your employer without lawful right violates FDCPA. Garnishment requires (a) a lawsuit; (b) service of process upon you; (c) judgment for the debt collector; (d) an application for a garnishment order; and (e) a judicial order granting garnishment.
3. Debt collectors may not make false or misleading statements regarding your debts.
4. Debt collectors may not "harass" or use vulgar or other profane words.
5. Debt collectors may only contact you between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Calls outside of these hours are prohibited, unless you’ve authorized the callback.
6. Debt collectors may not discuss the nature of the debt with a third party, unless you’ve authorized the discussion.
7. You may request that the debt collector stop all telephone calls by making a written request to the collection agency. However, note that this act may stop all correspondence, and the creditor may pursue other alternatives (read lawsuit).
8. You may always dispute the validity of any debts, and the debt collector must provide you with verification of the validity of the debt.

Finally, if you’re sued by a creditor or debt collection agency, DO NOT IGNORE THE LAWSUIT. You have a right to receive information and dispute the debt. You should contact Absolute Legal Services, LLC, or another reputable consumer law attorney. You have a limited amount of time to pursue the action and any defenses.