The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and private attorneys enforce the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (FDCPA) to ensure protection of consumers against harassment of unfair debt collectors.
If you have a credit card and used it you become a debtor. Any debt owed to a bank or other agencies makes you liable to pay. The creditors have a right to persist for the payment of a debt. However, the creditors do not follow up the debt further than a few calls and letters to you. They then sell it to debt collectors who employ unethical means to extract money from you.
Some debt collectors employ methods approved by the FDCPA. But there are often collectors who resort to unethical means to collect as much as they can. Such collectors end up harassing consumers thereby violating the FDCPA. They can be sued and are punishable in a court of law.
Learning about your rights under the FDCPA ensures you are free from debt collector harassment. The debt collector cannot call you at inconvenient time or place; he cannot threaten you or abuse you with dire consequences. A debt collector should send you a debt validation letter within five days of his first contact with you. You have to send a cease and desist communication notice to the debt collector within 30 days of the first phone call via certified mail with return receipt request to make sure of the collectors receipt. Many states in US allow recording of the conversation. Depending on the state you reside in you may record the conversation with the collector. The debt collector cannot sue you in a state where you do not reside. You have a right to file a complaint with the FTC and sue for damages for the violations committed by the collector.
Under the FDCPA it is imperative for the debt collectors to abide by the rules of the FDCPA. The FDCPA along with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) makes for the regulatory body of debt collection. Different states have defined debt collection laws that also need to be followed by the debt collectors along with the FDCPA.