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Author: Sergei Lemberg
Proving Emotional Distress Against Debt Collection Harassment
![Debt Collection Emotional Distress]()
General Rule: To prove emotional distress, you must provide medical records and other proof documenting your condition. In addition, you must prove it is connected to a valid FDCPA claim.
A debt collector has one job, to collect on a debt. During this process, they may engage in certain tactics they believe will help them collect on a debt. However, some of these tactics are abusive and can harm the person they are trying to collect a debt from.
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), third-party debt collectors may not engage in abusive collection practices. Primarily, debt collection practices that involve harassment, embarrassment or deception are illegal.
If a debt collector violates your rights under the FDCPA, you may suffer certain damages. Some of these are tangible such as if you lose your job or pay extra on a debt. Others, such as emotional distress, may be more difficult to quantify. This article will discuss emotional distress and how to prove it when filing an FDCPA claim.
Violations under the FDCPA
Before proving emotional distress, it’s important to make sure you have a valid FDCPA claim. A valid FDCPA claim involves a third-party debt collector (not the original creditor) and a personal, not business, debt. Personal debts include credit cards, student loans, mortgages, medical bills and more.
You must then identify a violation under the FDCPA. There are many different kinds of violations, but they primarily involve the following:
- Harassment. A debt collector may not harass you during the collection of the debt. Harassment may occur with repeated phone calls, abusive language and more.
- Publicizing Your Debt. A debt collector may violate your right to keep your debt private in multiple ways. For example, it is illegal to send communication that indicates they are collecting a debt on the envelope.
- Deception. A debt collector cannot misrepresent themselves, their company or your debt to coerce a payment.
Note: You also must make sure you have a valid claim. You have one year from the date of the violation to file an FDCPA claim.
Proving Damages for Emotional Distress Under the FDCPA
There are many damages and costs associated with an FDCPA claim that are fairly straightforward. Those include statutory damages, court costs and damages for financial loss. However, proving damages for emotional distress is a little more complex.
That being said, it’s important because many of the abusive tactics of a debt collector are psychological. While you may not lose your job, you may suffer great harm emotionally.
So, how does a person prove damages for emotional distress? First, they must prove that they suffered emotional distress. There are multiple ways one can prove emotional distress including:
- Medical documentation
- Testimony from a doctor/psychiatrist
- Their own testimony of what they suffered
- Proof of physical pain and suffering that was the result of the emotional distress
In addition to proving emotional distress, one must also prove that it was the result of the FDCPA violation. This step requires you to provide evidence or testimony that shows the violation led to the emotional distress. For instance, you can show that repeated collection calls happened right before a diagnosis of anxiety and insomnia.
Importance of Gathering Evidence
For any FDCPA claim, gathering evidence of the violation is essential. In addition, for an emotional distress claim, you must make sure to gather evidence that proves these specific damages. In addition, you must prove that the emotional distress was the direct result of the FDCPA violation.
As soon as a violation occurs keep records of all communications with the debt collector. This may include letters, voicemails and emails. Make sure to gather any additional evidence to prove a violation occurred such as a screenshot of your call log.
At the same time, make sure you take detailed notes of how these violations are impacting you. Write down when these violations occurred, including information on the date and time they occurred. With these notes, describe any emotional distress you are experiencing. This will help support any medical documentation you can provide.
Conclusion
If your rights are being violated under the FDCPA, it is important to take action. You can file a lawsuit and get compensated for different kinds of damages, including emotional distress.
That being said, emotional distress is sometimes difficult to prove. In addition to keeping relevant evidence, consider discussing your case with an FDCPA attorney. They can provide guidance and advise you on how to handle your claim under the FDCPA.
About the author:
Sergei Lemberg is a consumer rights attorney, practicing since 2006, whose practice focuses on consumer law, class actions and personal injury litigation. He is known for a United States Supreme Court case (Facebook v. Duguid) defending consumers from autodialers under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 to send unsolicited text messages. He is also the author of Defanging Debt Collectors, a book that teaches consumers how to battle debt collectors and win.
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