Oakland Creditor Harassment Attorney
Protect Your Rights Against Creditor Harassment
Are creditors or debt collectors harassing you in their collection efforts? Are they calling you incessantly, making threats against you, telling other people about your debt or taking other overly aggressive actions to get you to pay up?
If so, you should immediately consult with an attorney who can help you protect your rights.
Our Oakland creditor harassment lawyers at Kostopoulos Bankruptcy Law can help you take steps to put a stop to the creditor harassment you are suffering from and to hold the offending debt collectors accountable.
Our attorneys are knowledgeable of both the California Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (CFDCPA) and the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibit creditors from engaging in abusive and deceptive collection practices.
We can help you uphold your rights under these laws! Our team is also knowledgeable of how bankruptcy can be used to put a stop to creditors’ collections efforts-at least for the duration of the bankruptcy. Consult with a lawyer from our firm to find out how we can assist you.
What is Considered Creditor Harassment?
Debt collectors must act within the parameters of the law when attempting to collect debt from individuals. The FDCPA and CFDCPA clearly outline specific actions and conduct that can be defined as creditor harassment.
Here are a few of the many different actions that creditors and debt collectors are prohibited from carrying out under the CFDCPA and FDCPA:
- Using profane or obscene language when speaking to you
- Threatening to commit a crime against you or to use physical force against you
- Falsely telling you that you that your failure to pay the debt is a crime
- Threatening to take certain negative actions against you without having the legal ability or intention to take such action (i.e. having you arrested, getting your wages garnished, seizing your assets, etc.)
- Calling you constantly for the purpose of creating an annoyance, especially when you are at work
- Failing to disclose or misrepresenting one’s identity as a representative of the debt collector or creditor
- Calling you before 8 am or after 9 pm.
Once the debt collector or creditor is notified that an attorney is representing you, that collector must go through your legal representative for all future contact concerning your debt. If your creditor decides to sue you, it may be possible to use the creditor harassment violations as defense or grounds for a countersuit, which could result in an order for the debt collector to pay you damages.
What To Do If You Are a Victim of Creditor Harassment
If you have suffered repeated harassment and abuse from creditors, here are some steps you can take to protect yourself:
- Document and keep records of each incident, including the times you are contacted and instances of abusive language
- Ask for proof of your debt. You have a right to verify that your debt is accurate and debt collectors must show documentation.
- Contact an attorney immediately. Your attorney can help you put a stop to the harassment and seek damages on your behalf.
How You Can Benefit from Bankruptcy?
As a debtor who is being harassed by creditors or debt collectors, bankruptcy may be a helpful option for you. Once a debtor files for bankruptcy, he or she gets to benefit from an automatic stay. This stay puts collection efforts on hold while your problem debt is being addressed through bankruptcy. This means that creditors have to stop calling you for payment and stop any negative actions against you until your bankruptcy is completed.
Contact an Oakland creditor harassment attorney from our firm for help addressing your creditor harassment issues!