June's Top Ethics Complaint: Harassment

Published: Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The top ethics complaint for June concerned debt collectors harassing consumers-specifically, rude and threatening comments directed towards consumers. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits a collector from engaging in any harassing or abusive practices in connection with the collection of a debt.

A collector may not threaten violence against a consumer in an attempt to coerce payment. The FTC has interpreted this section to include implicit as well as explicit threats. Thus, comments such as "We can play tough" and "We're going to send somebody to collectâ€¦one way or another" may violate the FDCPA. Non-violent threats may also be prohibited under the FDCPA. For instance, a collector may not threaten to take action against a consumer that cannot legally be taken or that is not intended to be taken. This includes threatening to take legal action or to garnish wages if the debt collector does not actually intend to take such action or does not have the legal right to do so.

The FTC has stated that a collector's use of "religious slurs, profanity, obscenity, calling the consumer a liar or a deadbeat, and the use of racial or sexual epithets" is abusive. Whether a collector intends to abuse a consumer by using profane language is irrelevant. Regardless of the debt collector's intention, if the natural consequence of using such language in connection with the collection of a consumer debt results in abuse to the consumer, a violation occurs.

The aforementioned practices are by no means the only forms of harassment. Any conduct that the least sophisticated (or unsophisticated) consumer interprets to be harassing or abusive may violate the FDCPA. Thus, it is vital that collection agencies' employees understand what constitutes harassing and abusive behavior.

This article is provided by ACA International's Legal and Government Affairs Department.