Florida FCCPA Violations Attorneys

FCCPA (Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act) vs. FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) Violations

While these two acts are similar in nature and have similar goals, there are a few different key aspects to each one. The Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) is a state statute that applies to all citizens of Florida. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), on the other hand, is a federal statute and applies to all citizens of the United States.

In Legal Terms

Both the FCCPA and the FDCPA aim to prevent illegal and abusive debt collection activities. The state of Florida's FCCPA is broader because the statute's language says it applies to any person attempting to collect a consumer debt. Meanwhile, the federal statute, the FDCPA, only applies to those who are defined as debt collectors under the statute, which usually means that they're collecting debt that wasn't theirs to begin with or a debt that they purchased from somebody else.

In Normal Terms

What does any of that mean to you? Well, it's a distinction with a very important legal difference but, by and large, the concepts are similar. They both hold a laundry list of things that overlap and, in most cases, with regards to what people or businesses are—or, more importantly, are not—allowed to do when they're trying to collect a debt money from someone.

What Are My Rights Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

With the protections offered under the FDCPA, you, as the debtor, essentially limit when and how third-party debt collectors reach out to you. For instance, they are not allowed to call at any inconvenient time or place that you specify. Additionally, the debt collector is not allowed to disclose your debt situation with a third-party.

Creditors and debt collectors are not allowed to do any of the following when trying to collect a debt:

• Lie, trick or deceive people - They are prohibited from claiming to be a lawyer or other misrepresentation, falsifying the amount of debt owed, trying to collect old debts, or making false claims about your credit.
• Threaten legal action
• Call a million times a day
• Harass people with inconvenient calls, like calling at 11:30 at night - All calls must be made between the hours of 8am and 9pm.
• Call people insulting names or making threats
• Call you after you have repeatedly asked them to stop

They can call someone at work, but under very limited circumstances. They are allowed to place one call for the purpose of attempting to locate the person they are looking to collect the debt from. However, they cannot disclose the purpose of the call. By no means can they call and tell the receptionist they need to speak with Joe Schmoe because he owes $1,000,000.

What Happens If a Debt Collector Breaks These “Cans” & “Cannots?”

Well, that’s the beautiful thing about these statutes for a law firm like us. They have a list of things that are not allowed to be done and, when debt collectors violate these statutes, they are subject to penalties. Businesses can even be held liable in class action lawsuits.

If you’d like to read the list in full, you can check them out by following the links below.

• Click here for FCCPA
• Click here for FDCPA

What to Do If You Think Your Rights Have Been Violated

Do you think you’ve been a victim of one (or multiple) of these violations? If so, you are entitled to fight these abusive practices!

You can sue when a debt collector violates the FDCPA, but you must make sure to file within two years of the incident. You may receive a statutory award of $1,000 and possibly more if there were damages resulting from the violations.

We can help you fight these debt collectors. In fact, we’ve been doing this for over 20 years and have the experience it takes. We encourage you to jump over to our testimonial page and read some of our reviews. We hope that, by reading our reviews and seeing exactly where they came from, you’ll get a better picture of who we are and how our Florida FCCPA violations lawyers can help you.

Contact us online to get started on your case today, or call us at (800) 391-4337 to schedule your complimentary debt defense strategy session.