Your FDCPA Rights

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is the federal law that limits what debt collectors can do. It bans calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., threats, lies about the debt, and contact with your friends or family about it. Its strongest tool is debt validation: dispute the debt in writing within 30 days of receiving the collector's written notice, and the collector must stop collecting until it mails you verification (15 U.S.C. § 1692g).

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that protects you from abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices. If a debt collector is calling you, sending you letters, or threatening your credit — you have rights. Powerful ones.

What Collectors Cannot Do

Under the FDCPA, debt collectors are prohibited from:

• Calling before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in your time zone
• Calling your workplace after you've told them your employer doesn't allow it
• Using threats, profanity, or harassment of any kind
• Lying about the amount you owe or who they are
• Threatening legal action they have no intention of taking
• Contacting third parties (friends, family, neighbors) about your debt
• Adding unauthorized fees or interest to the balance
• Continuing to contact you after you've sent a written cease-and-desist letter (BillFighter's Cease & Desist), with limited exceptions

If a collector violates any of these rules, you may be entitled to up to $1,000 in statutory damages per lawsuit (not per violation), plus actual damages and attorney's fees.

Your Right to Debt Validation

This is your most powerful tool. Within 5 days of first contacting you, a collector must send written notice of the debt. You then have 30 days to send a written dispute requesting validation.

Once you dispute in writing within that window, the collector must stop all collection activity until it obtains verification of the debt and mails it to you. The validation request asks for:

• The amount of the debt with a full accounting
• The name of the original creditor
• Proof they have the right to collect

BillFighter's Debt Validation Letter asks for exactly this, and for an itemized statement of the underlying charges. It is free with a BillFighter account at /tools/debt-validation-letter: you print it, sign it, and mail it. Or upload the notice and the bill and have BillFighter send it by certified mail with the delivery record on file.

The FDCPA (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)) says one thing about what happens next: until the collector mails you verification of the debt, it must keep collection stopped. If it never manages to verify, it can never resume. The law sets no deadline for verifying and doesn't order the collector to close the account; what it does is freeze collection, and that freeze is your leverage.

How to Protect Yourself

1. Don't acknowledge a debt on the phone — in some states a payment or an acknowledgment can restart the statute of limitations
2. Communicate only in writing — paper trails are your shield
3. Send everything via certified mail with return receipt
4. Log every call — date, time, caller name, what was said
5. Know your state's statute of limitations — once the lawsuit window closes, a collector cannot sue to collect

What BillFighter Does Here

BillFighter drafts, in your name, the Debt Validation Letter that asserts your rights under FDCPA § 1692g. You read it, sign it, and send it: mail it yourself, or have BillFighter send it by certified mail. On a paid case it tracks your 30-day window and reminds you when your follow-up date comes. If the collector keeps collecting without validating, the Follow-Up Letter puts that on the record.

BillFighter reads your documents, prepares the letters that fit, and keeps the case organized. With the Fight Kit, you print and mail the letters. With In Your Corner, BillFighter mails up to two of your approved letters by certified mail and tracks delivery. You review every draft. BillFighter does not call or negotiate with the other side, and it is not a law firm. Free validation letter with a BillFighter account →, or Check my bill, free →.

See a sample letter: Debt validation letter sample →