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July's Top Ethics Complaint:
Threatening Arrest

Published: Wednesday, August 10, 2005

The top ethics complaint for July concerned debt collectors threatening a consumer with arrest. Section 807(4) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) specifically prohibits a collector from representing or implying that the nonpayment of a debt will result in a consumer's arrest or imprisonment unless such action is lawful and the collector intends to take such an action.

A collector is generally unable to issue an arrest warrant as he does not have the authority to make the decision to issue or execute an arrest warrant. The matter, however, may be referred to the proper authorities, although if a collector does not intend to forward the matter and may not lawfully do so, Section 807(4) will be violated.

Similarly, a collector is prohibited from falsely implying that nonpayment of a debt will lead to imprisonment of a consumer if such action is unintended or unlawful. Again, the collector lacks the authority to follow through on a threat of imprisonment.

Section 807(5) prohibits a collector from threatening to take any action that will not be taken or cannot be taken. Therefore, a collector may only represent those actions to a consumer that he intends to take, has the authority to take, and are permitted by law. If a collector does not intend or cannot take the action he indicated to the consumer, such a statement would be a misrepresentation specifically prohibited by the FDCPA.

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