How Has Debt Collection Been Affected?
Debt collectors can be some of the most intimidating individuals in the world. Regardless of what they look to collect on, they can be perceived as forceful to the point of bullying. The only thing that people who have debt need to know is that even debt collectors have limits. There are boundaries that debt collectors cannot pass with those they try to collect from. The best thing to do is to keep your wits about you when talking to a debt collector. There are some things that debt collectors do that may be illegal, so it pays to pay attention to what you’re being told.
Recently there was a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that made debt buyers all but immune to the regulations of the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act. To summarize the reasoning behind this, the act does not extend the definition of a “debt collector” to those who purchase debt from others to add to their accounts and, thus, avoid being regulated by the FDCPA. This means that those institutions who purchase cannot be branded as debt collectors.
The defining of terms (and subsequent expulsion of certain institutions from the rule) can change how debt collection is perceived. The FDCPA is meant to protect you from unruly debt collection practices. Those who look to collect debts cannot overstep certain boundaries. The FDCPA protects your rights and allows you to act against debt collectors who take their jobs to the extreme. There are plenty of unlawful actions a debt collections agency can enact against you.
The problem with this ruling is that it might give entities who look to collect debts from you more power to do so. Rules like the amount of calls regulated to debt collectors per day (or even within an hour) won’t apply to everyone looking to collect a debt anymore. More specifically, it will only apply to those who actually own the debt, and not those who are only called in to help collect the debt in question.