According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a debt collector may not lie about who they are or misrepresent themselves. Unfortunately debt collectors do this all the time in an effort to get information from third parties, or to scare people into thinking the debt collector has more power than they actually do under the law.
Section E of the law is specific. Debt collectors are not allowed to lie or misrepresent themselves, and here are some common illegal practices they employ:
- Lie or mislead the consumer by representing they are affiliated with a government agency, or pretend to have a badge or uniform
- Lie about the type, amount or legal status of the debt
- Threaten to have the consumer arrested
- Threaten that someone’s wages will be garnished or property seized
- Threaten to do anything illegal to the debtor
- State that the consumer committed a crime
- Threaten to report false credit information
- Misrepresent documents as authorized by a court, official or agent of the government, or legal when they are not
- Fail to state to the consumer that their contact “is an attempt to collect a debt”
- Stating any name other than the true name of the debt collector’s business
- Misrepresent that they are employed by a consumer reporting agency or credit bureau
- And more…
More of the common illegal debt collection practices are in this section. The bottom line is that if you know or suspect that a debt collector has lied to you, it is illegal and you have recourse through an attorney.
