If you have any credit cards or loans, you are known to collection agencies and financial institutions as a debtor.  When you owe companies or individuals money, you are mandated to be treated fairly by the individuals or establishments to which you are indebted.  Your debt is not decreased or limited in any way by the Fair Debt Collection Laws that are in place, but certain methods of debt collection are prohibited under the Laws.  You do need to be treated fairly by those whose job it is to collect your debts.  These collectors are known as debt collectors, and they make their living trying to recoup the money owned to their employers or companies.

A number of different debts are covered under the federal Fair Debt Collection Laws, as established in the United States of America.  These debts include personal loans, family loans and general household debt.  Automobile purchases, medical care and credit card accounts are some of the specific situations that are covered.

Debt collectors are limited in when and how they may contact you.  These individuals may not contact you outside the hours of 8 am to 9 pm, unless you have given the debt collectors specific permission to do so.  You may be contacted by phone, fax, mail or in person, but you may not be contacted at work if it is known that your employer would not approve of such contact.  These collectors may not threaten you with violence, publication or any type of harassment.  They are also prohibited from making any false statements, such as that they are employed by the government or that they are attorneys.

You can prohibit debt collectors from contacting you by sending them a letter telling them to stop, but this does not erase your debt and you may end up being sued by your original lender if you do not take care of the debt.  Debt collectors may not continue to try to recoup the money if you have sent a letter to them advising them that you do not owe money and that perhaps the debt is an error.  However, they can resume such collection practices if they find that you do, in fact, owe money.

If you feel that a debt collector who has contacted you has broken the law, you do have some resources available to you.  You are able to sue the collector or the collection agency for damages, bankruptcy-attorney.shtml">attorney fees and court costs.  Complaints can be placed at FTC.GOV.