Under the Federal
Debt Collection Practices Act debt
collectors may not...
-
Call you before 8 a.m.
or after 9 p.m.
-
Call, write, or
visit you at work, if the your employer does not allow it
-
Contact you
while the debt is being checked
-
Contact you
if you tell the collector in writing not to contact you.
-
Tell anyone else why
the collector wants to get in touch with you
-
Trick or threaten to
hurt you, use bad language, or call too much
-
Lie about the debt
or about what happens if you do not pay. For example, they
cannot say that you will go to jail if you do not pay, or that
they will take a Social Security or pension check if you do not pay
-
Visit a your home more than once in thirty days. Extra visits for reasonable
follow-ups are allowed.
-
Go into your
home, unless invited in by an adult member of the household
-
Stay in your home
after you asked them to leave
(15 U.S.C. §1692 et seq.)
|
|
Under Maryland law
debt collectors may not ...
-
Use or threaten
force or violence
-
Threaten criminal prosecution, unless a violation of criminal law
is involved
-
Disclose or threaten
to disclose information affecting your reputation for credit
worthiness (if they know the information is false)
-
Contact your
employer
about a debt before obtaining a final judgment
-
Disclose or threaten
to disclose to a person other than you and your spouse (or if you are a minor,
your parent(s)), information affecting your
reputation if they know that the person the debt collector is telling
does not have a legitimate need for the information
-
Communicate with you
or anyone related to you at unusual hours, too often, or
in a way that can be expected to abuse or harass you
-
Use bad language in
communicating with the you or anyone related to you
-
Claim, attempt, or
threaten to enforce a right knowing that the right does not exist
-
When this is not true,
use a communication
that resembles a legal or judicial process or gives the appearance of
being authorized, issued, or approved by a government agency or lawyer,
(Md. Ann. Code, Commercial Law
Article, §14-201 et seq.)
|
