After the economic downturn this country has just experienced, debt collection harassment is on the rise and there are more and more violations and debt collectors to stop. If you are harassed and abused by debt collectors, you are afforded protections under state and federal debt collection statutes. Debt collectors are desperate — they will do whatever they can to get you to pay a debt, even if it does not belong to you.

Debt collectors will threaten you by telling you that you will be arrested if you do not pay the debt, they threaten to garnish wages, they even threaten to come to your home to collect this debt in person. Some debt collectors will use less obvious means of harassment, such as calling you repeatedly, time and again, at each number they can find for you; they call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.; they call your friends, family members and even your co-workers. Debt collectors, despite your repeated requests not to do so, will call you at work.

You might be embarrassed, stressed and even frightened by the calls and letters you receive from debt collectors. You are not alone, and you are protected!

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the California Rosenthal Act protect you against debt collection abuse and harassment. You may be entitled to have the collection efforts of the abusive debt collector stopped, and in many instances you may also be entitled to a monetary recovery. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the California Rosenthal Act also allow you to recover your attorney’s fees and costs from the defendants. If you don’t recover, neither do we!