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Your rights

What Debt Collectors Are Not Allowed to Do

Quick reference

This page is a quick reference. For full context on the laws, see:

Time restrictions

Debt collectors cannot contact you:

  • Before 8:00 AM or after 9:00 PM in your local time zone
  • At any time or place you have told them is inconvenient
  • At your workplace if they know or have reason to know your employer does not allow such contact

Frequency restrictions

Under Regulation F (effective 2021), debt collectors are limited to:

  • 7 phone calls per debt within any 7-day period
  • After speaking with you about a particular debt, they cannot call you again about that debt for 7 days unless you give them permission

Communication method restrictions

Debt collectors cannot:

  • Send postcards or use envelopes that indicate the contents are about debt collection
  • Use any indicator on mail that suggests the sender is a debt collector to anyone except you
  • Contact you by email, text, or social media in ways you have opted out of

False statements are prohibited

Debt collectors cannot:

  • Falsely claim to be attorneys or government representatives
  • Misrepresent the amount of the debt
  • Misrepresent the legal status of the debt
  • Threaten action they cannot legally take
  • Falsely claim that nonpayment will result in arrest or imprisonment
  • Falsely claim that you have committed a crime
  • Misrepresent which company they are or who they work for
  • Use a fake company name to disguise their identity

Threats and intimidation

Debt collectors cannot:

  • Threaten violence or harm
  • Threaten to publish your name on a "deadbeat" list
  • Use obscene or profane language
  • Threaten you with consequences they cannot legally impose
  • Use any language designed to harass, oppress, or abuse

Garnishment threats

Debt collectors cannot:

  • Threaten wage garnishment when they have no court judgment
  • Threaten bank account seizure when they have no court judgment
  • Threaten property seizure they cannot legally pursue
  • Threaten to take action against property they have no right to (such as Social Security benefits, which are generally protected from garnishment)

In Texas, most consumer debt cannot be collected through wage garnishment at all. Other states have specific limits on what can be garnished and how much.

Discussing your debt with others

Debt collectors generally cannot:

  • Tell your family members, coworkers, neighbors, or anyone else about your debt
  • Discuss your debt with anyone other than your spouse, attorney, or co-signer
  • Send mail that reveals the sender is a debt collector

There are limited exceptions for:

  • Calling third parties to ask only for your contact information (and not revealing the debt)
  • Discussing the debt with your attorney
  • Discussing the debt with the original creditor

Continuing contact after written request

If you send a written request that the collector stop contacting you, they generally cannot contact you again except to:

  • Inform you that they are stopping
  • Notify you that they are taking specific legal action

This means a cease and desist letter does not stop them from suing you. It only stops the regular collection contacts.

Charging unauthorized fees

Debt collectors cannot:

  • Add fees not authorized by the original contract
  • Charge interest beyond what your state law and the original contract allow
  • Use fee structures designed to disguise interest charges
  • Add fees on top of fees

Seeking payment for time-barred debt

This is complicated and varies by state.

In general, a debt collector can ask you to pay a debt that is past the statute of limitations. But they cannot:

  • Threaten to sue on a time-barred debt (this is an FDCPA violation in most circumstances)
  • Misrepresent the legal status of the debt
  • Take advantage of you not knowing the debt is time-barred

If a debt is past the SoL, the collector cannot win a lawsuit if you assert SoL as a defense. But if you make a payment or written acknowledgment, you can revive the SoL in many states.

Specific things many collectors try (illegally)

Some practices are common but illegal:

  • Calling you at work after you have asked them to stop
  • Calling family members and discussing the debt with them
  • Threatening to report you to a non-existent "credit blacklist"
  • Threatening to take your tax refund (only specific government debts can do this)
  • Threatening to revoke your driver's license (only specific debts have this consequence)
  • Using military-themed language to imply they have government authority
  • Calling from "spoofed" numbers that look like local calls
  • Sending letters designed to look like court documents

If any of these have happened to you, document them. They are FDCPA violations.

What to do when a collector violates these rules

  1. Document everything - Date, time, what was said, who said it, any phone numbers used. Save voicemails, text messages, and letters.
  2. Send a cease and desist letter - This stops the contacts (with limited exceptions).
  3. File complaints:
    • CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint
    • FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov
    • Your state attorney general
  4. Consult a consumer protection attorney - Each violation can be worth up to $1,000 in statutory damages, plus actual damages, plus attorney fees. You typically pay nothing.
  5. Consider whether the debt is even valid - Many violations occur in the context of debt buyer collection, where the underlying debt may not even be properly documented. A violation may be your opening to challenge the debt itself.

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