The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law that regulates the behavior of collection companies. It typically applies to third-party debt collectors as opposed to original creditors, providing guidelines as to what debt collectors can and cannot do when attempting to collect a debt.”

One important benefit of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is the requirement that if you hire an attorney, the collector must then communicate through the attorney and is prohibited from contacting you. So hiring an attorney and bringing this Act to bear can save you the harassment of having your phone ringing off the hook.