With the enactment of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), there is no reason for debtors to be apprehensive of crossing paths with debt collectors. The FDCPA provides a wide range of protection that prohibits collecting agencies from acts that are deemed embarrassing, intrusive, misleading, threatening and inappropriate.
A violation of this law will expose collectors from claims that will require them to be the one to pay the borrower for damages.
Consumer Collection Laws in Georgia
The FDCPA is supplemented by the Industrial Loan Act (ILA) in the state of Georgia. The Georgia ILA serves to protect consumers from unfair, overreaching and abusive conduct of debt collectors.
It supports debtors especially during difficult times and applies to loans that are less than $3,000, with a loan period of less than 3 years and 15 days. For loan amounts exceeding $3,000, the FDCPA applies.
Both the ILA and the FDCPA governs practices of debt collectors. The ILA goes further by also including industrial lenders. Some of the prohibitions of the two consumer collection legislations in Georgia are as follows:
- Entry to your property without invitation;
- Placing you in embarrassing situations;
- Threat or actual physical harm;
- Visits or communication between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am;
- Pretend legal process, etc.
Besides the benefits provided by the FDCPA to residents of Georgia, wider protection is afforded to them by the Georgia ILA, such as the following:
- Requires applicable lenders of consumer loans of not more than $3,000 to have a license;
- Limits interest rates, charges and fees imposed on consumers;
- Provides a private remedy of single penalty (twice the amount of interest fees or greater of $100) for cases except class actions;
- Requires the provision of a written and well-itemized statement of the debt; and
- Requires creditor to adhere to appropriate procedures when lending money.
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FDCPA Attorneys in Georgia Can Help You
Residents of Atlanta, Albany, Covington, as well as others cities within the state, can be protected by a licensed Georgia FDCPA attorney from abusive collecting agencies. If you feel that your rights are violated by lenders and collectors, you may opt to bring a civil lawsuit against them under the ILA or the FDCPA with the help of an FDCPA attorney in Georgia.
Another option is the filing of a complaint against the collecting agency before the Georgia Industrial Loan Commissioner. The Commissioner can impose fines or revoke/suspend licenses of creditors and collecting agencies if found guilty of ILA violations.
Your Georgia FDCPA attorney can also assist you with this and help you determine if your debt has gone past its statute of limitation to give you a peace of mind about not being sued for it.
In Georgia, the statute of limitation for debts incurred based on promissory notes and written contracts are 6 years and 4 years for orally agreed upon debts. For credit card debts, the statute of limitation used to be 4 years.
However, as ruled in Hill v. American Express in 2008, the Georgia statute of limitation became 6 years from the time the credit card debt became due.
Free Evaluation May be Availed
You need not spend a dime to know your rights. You can first get a better understanding of the FDCPA law and determine if you have a good case against an abusive debt collector. You can avail of a Free Evaluation so that your situation can first be assessed.
If you decide to pursue a claim for damages, you can be connected immediately to a licensed Georgia FDCPA attorney to help you claim for remedies.