Debt Collectors May Not Harass or Abuse a Debtor to Collect a Debt

The case

In 2007, debt collectors from Advanced Call Center Technologies, LLC left voicemails on Alan Jones's cell phone. They were calling him to ask that he pay up. The debt was on a credit card bill that Jones disputed and said he had already paid. But, even though the debt was disputed, the calls from the debt collectors continued.



These were not ordinary calls dunning Jones for money to pay off a bill they said he owed. They weren't calls made where a debt collector pushes to get the debtor to pay the bill using legal means to get them to pay it. No, they were much more than this.



In most of these calls, the debt collectors used profanity to get Jones to pay up. And they used something else:



"This is your mother******* wake-up call you little lazy a** b****," a collector said on one. "Get your mother******* n****r ass up and go pick some mother******* cotton fields."



That something else was race. These debt collectors used racial epithets-racial slurs-- to get Jones to pay. They used something that most of us would consider to be vile racial language to get Jones to pay. They did this because Alan Jones is black and, being black and owing money, as they thought he did, that made him fair game. So anything they said to him that would prod him to pay up was perfectly alright.



Though it might have been a little too much for most everyone, others would have simply gritted their teeth and tolerated it. There might be questions about the tactics and the choice of words used, but most others would simply ignore it. They would feel they had to since they owed the money and there was nothing they could do about it anyway.

But not Alan Jones. Alan Jones didn't ignore it. He knew something they thought he didn't know. He knew that this wasn't right and that he did have rights even in this type of circumstance.



The way he put it was, "This shouldn't be tolerated. Nobody should have to experience what I had to experience."



He knew that there was something he could do about it. So he hired some attorneys. These attorneys sued under Texas law but they also sued under the Fair Debt Collections Act (the FDCPA) a federal statute protecting debtors from abuse by bill collectors.



Fast forward to May of 2010. A jury in Dallas heard the case of Alan Jones vs. Advanced Call Center Technologies, LLC. After all the evidence was presented, the jury deliberated and came back with a verdict: $50,000 in emotional damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages.



The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act violation



Under the Fair Debt Collections Act, it is unlawful for debt collectors to abuse or harass a debtor to collect on the debt.



15 USC § 1692d. Harassment or abuse

A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt...



This is the general prohibition. Specific types of harassment are listed:



Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:



...(2) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.



The specific words used have been left out here as they were in the original article to make this more family friendly. But they were left out because they are profane, that is, they are profanity and the worst kind. For a debt collector to use such words in communications with a debtor over a debt, is a violation of this section. And being a violation of this section, a lawsuit can be brought under the FDCPA.



Profanity is not the only thing covered under this section. This section also covers the use of racial slurs like the ones used with Alan Jones. A debt collector may not use racial slurs to collect a debt. If he or she does, it is a violation of the FDCPA and the debtor can sue for damages.



The good news is that you have rights when a bill collector calls. Those rights are provided by the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act as well as by state and federal consumer laws. But you cannot claim them if you do not know them. Make sure you know your rights if the bill collector calls.



Scott W. Clark, an attorney author, has written the e-book Know Your Rights: When the Debt Collector Calls-The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It is available for the Kindle (and for the Kindle Reader application available for computers) at Amazon and for other e-readers and in pdf at Smashwords. This article is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.