Debt collectors can contact you by phone, mail, email, and text, report unpaid accounts to the credit bureaus, and sue you in court. If they win a judgment, what debt collectors can do expands sharply: they can garnish your wages, freeze and drain your bank account, and place liens on real property you own. Each of these powers has federal limits built into the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing rule, Regulation F, and a collector who oversteps opens itself to a lawsuit from you. State rules layer additional protections on top of the federal floor described below.
How They Can Contact You
Collectors can call, mail letters, email, and send text messages. Federal law confines all of these to the hours between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in your local time zone, and a collector who knows a different window is inconvenient for you has to respect that too.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection
Regulation F sets a concrete cap on call frequency. A collector is presumed to violate the law if it calls you more than seven times in seven days about a particular debt, or calls again within seven days after actually speaking with you about that debt.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. When and How Often Can a Debt Collector Call Me on the Phone? The cap runs per debt, so a collector handling three accounts of yours could make up to 21 calls in a week without triggering the presumption. Voicemails count as calls.
Emails and texts have to include a clear, simple way to opt out of future electronic messages to that address or number. The collector cannot charge a fee for opting out or make you turn over extra personal information to do it.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1006.6 Communications in Connection with Debt Collection
The first time a collector reaches you, it must disclose that it is a debt collector and that any information you share will be used to collect. Every later contact still has to identify the communication as coming from a debt collector.4eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1006 – Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F) – Section 1006.18
The Validation Notice You’re Owed
Within five days of the first contact, a collector has to send you a written validation notice. That notice must state the amount of the debt, name the creditor, and tell you that you have 30 days to dispute the debt in writing.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692g – Validation of Debts Regulation F expanded the notice: it now also has to show an itemization of how the current balance was reached, including any interest and fees added since a reference date, along with a mailing address for disputes.6eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1006 – Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F) – Section 1006.34
Send a written dispute inside that 30-day window and the collector must pause collection activity until it mails you verification, either documentation of the debt or a copy of a court judgment. Miss the window and the collector treats the debt as valid. This is where a lot of people quietly lose leverage.
Contacting Other People About You
A collector trying to locate you can contact third parties, including neighbors, relatives, and coworkers, but only to get your address, phone number, or workplace. It generally cannot reveal that it is calling about a debt, cannot identify itself as a collection agency unless the person directly asks, and cannot use postcards or mark envelopes with anything suggesting debt collection.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692b – Acquisition of Location Information
A collector can usually contact any given third party only once. The exception is when the collector reasonably believes the person gave wrong or incomplete information the first time.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692b – Acquisition of Location Information Repeated calls to your family or any disclosure of the debt to them is a violation you can act on.
What Collectors Cannot Do
The FDCPA draws three bright lines: no harassment, no deception, no unfair practices.
Harassment and Abuse
A collector cannot threaten violence, use obscene language, or call repeatedly with intent to annoy or harass.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692d – Harassment or Abuse “Repeatedly” reaches beyond the seven-in-seven presumption. Fewer calls can still violate this section when the pattern shows intentional harassment. Publishing your name on a “deadbeat list,” aside from routine credit bureau reporting, is also prohibited.
False and Misleading Statements
A collector cannot misrepresent what you owe, falsely claim to be an attorney or a government official, or imply you’ll be arrested for not paying a consumer debt.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692e – False or Misleading Representations Ordinary consumer debts like credit card balances and medical bills are civil matters. Threats of arrest or criminal prosecution over them are almost certainly false. Collectors also cannot threaten wage garnishment or property seizure unless they actually intend to pursue it and have the legal right to do so.
Unfair Practices
A collector cannot tack on fees, interest, or other charges that aren’t authorized by your original agreement or by law. Depositing a post-dated check before the date on its face is prohibited. So is threatening to seize property the collector has no legal right to, a common bluff with unsecured debts where no collateral was ever pledged.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692f – Unfair Practices
How to Make Them Stop Contacting You
You can force a collector to stop contacting you by sending a written notice that either refuses to pay the debt or asks all communication to cease. Once the collector receives it, contact must stop with three narrow exceptions: to confirm collection efforts are ending, to notify you it may pursue a specific legal remedy, or to tell you it intends to sue.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection Regulation F treats an electronic opt-out the same as a written one, as long as you use a method the collector has set up to receive messages.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1006.6 Communications in Connection with Debt Collection
A cease-communication letter silences the phone. It does not erase the debt. The collector can still report the account to credit bureaus, sell it to another company, or file suit.
Reporting the Debt to Credit Bureaus
Collectors routinely report delinquent accounts to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. A collection entry can drop your score meaningfully and make loans, housing, and insurance more expensive. Reported information has to be accurate and verifiable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the collector must note any active dispute so the report reflects the disagreement.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
A collection account can stay on your credit report for seven years. That clock starts 180 days after the date you first fell behind on the original account, not the date the debt was sold or placed with a collector.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports If reported information is wrong, dispute it with the credit bureau; the bureau has 30 days to investigate and respond.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy A collector that reports inaccurate information or fails to update a paid account can face civil liability.
When a Debt Is Too Old to Sue On
Every state sets a statute of limitations on consumer debt, a deadline after which a collector can no longer sue you to collect. The window commonly runs from about three to six years for most debts, with a few states allowing up to ten or fifteen depending on the type of agreement. Once it closes, the debt is “time-barred.”
A collector who sues, or even threatens to sue, on a time-barred debt violates the FDCPA. The CFPB issued an advisory opinion confirming that this is strict liability: the violation stands even if the collector didn’t know the debt was past the deadline.13Federal Register. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Regulation F) – Time-Barred Debt
Watch what you say and pay on an old account. In some states a partial payment or even a verbal acknowledgment that you owe the debt can restart the statute of limitations and hand the collector a fresh window to sue.14Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Debt Collectors Collect a Debt That’s Several Years Old? If a collector presses you for a small “good faith” payment on a very old account, understand what that payment could restart before agreeing to anything.
Lawsuits
When a collector sues, it files a summons and complaint with a court. Federal law limits where the case can be brought: either the judicial district where you signed the original contract, or where you live when suit begins. For debts secured by real property, the case must be filed where the property sits.15Federal Trade Commission. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act – Section 811 Filing in the wrong venue violates the FDCPA.
After service you typically have 20 to 30 days to file a written response, depending on your state’s rules and how you were served. Ignore the summons and the court will likely enter a default judgment, meaning the collector wins without having to prove much of anything. Default judgments account for most collector wins, and they are hard to unwind once entered.
Respond, and the collector has to prove the debt is valid and that it holds the right to collect. That burden matters when a debt buyer is the plaintiff. The buyer has to show an unbroken chain of ownership from the original creditor through every sale. Courts have thrown out cases where debt buyers couldn’t produce the assignment documents linking their purchase to the specific account.
Wage Garnishment
A judgment lets the collector reach your paycheck through a writ of garnishment served on your employer. Payroll withholds a portion of your earnings each period and sends it to the collector.
Federal law caps garnishment at the lesser of two figures: 25 percent of your disposable earnings for that week, or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment With the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour as of 2026, the 30-times threshold works out to $217.50 per week.17U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act If your weekly disposable earnings are $217.50 or less, nothing can be garnished. Between $217.50 and $290, only the amount above $217.50 is exposed. At $290 or more, the full 25 percent applies. Many states impose tighter caps, so check your state’s rule.
Bank Account Levies
A judgment creditor can also serve a writ of execution on your bank, ordering it to freeze funds up to the judgment amount. The bank locks the account and holds the money for a period during which you can claim exemptions. A levy can freeze your entire checking balance regardless of outstanding checks or auto-payments, and one that lands at the wrong moment can cascade into bounced payments and overdraft fees.
Federal Benefits Are Protected
Some income is off-limits even after a judgment. Direct deposits of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), veterans’ benefits, federal retirement pay, military annuities, federal student aid, railroad retirement, and FEMA assistance are protected from bank levies.18Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can a Debt Collector Take My Federal Benefits?
When your bank receives a garnishment order, it must review the account for federal benefit deposits made in the previous two months. Two months’ worth of those direct-deposited benefits are automatically protected, and you keep full access to that money without filing anything. The bank has to complete this review within two business days.19eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments Any amount above the two-month protected balance can still be reached.
The automatic protection only works for benefits deposited electronically. If you receive a paper check and deposit it yourself, the bank is not required to shield those funds; you’d have to file an exemption claim with the court.18Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can a Debt Collector Take My Federal Benefits? SSI carries the strongest protection: it cannot be garnished even for government debts or child support. Social Security and SSDI can sometimes be garnished for back taxes, federal student loans, and support obligations.
Beyond federal benefits, some states automatically protect a set dollar amount in your bank account from any levy. These state exemptions vary widely, and a number of states let you apply a general “wildcard” personal property exemption to cash in the account. Check your state’s schedule as soon as you learn a judgment has been entered. Waiting until funds are frozen makes everything harder.
Liens on Your Property
A judgment creditor can record the judgment in your county’s land records, creating a lien on real property you own. The lien attaches to the property and must be paid off before you can sell or refinance with clear title. In some situations a creditor can seek a forced sale through the courts, but this is uncommon for ordinary consumer debts and judges are generally reluctant to order it.
Most states offer a homestead exemption that shields some equity in your primary residence from judgment creditors. Protected amounts range enormously, from no protection at all in a couple of states to unlimited equity (subject to acreage limits) in a handful of others. Most states fall between, typically protecting tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand dollars in home equity. If your equity sits within the exemption, a lien may rest on the property for years without the creditor being able to force a sale, though it still has to be satisfied when you eventually sell.
Suing a Collector Who Breaks the Rules
When a collector violates the FDCPA, whether by calling outside legal hours, lying about the balance, threatening arrest, or disclosing the debt to a third party, you can sue in federal or state court within one year of the violation. If you win, you can recover actual damages (bounced-check fees from an illegal levy, lost wages from workplace harassment, emotional distress), plus up to $1,000 in additional statutory damages per lawsuit. The court can also order the collector to pay your attorney’s fees and costs.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692k – Civil Liability
The $1,000 statutory cap keeps individual FDCPA cases from being windfalls, but the fee-shifting provision is what makes them practical. Many consumer attorneys take these cases with no upfront cost because they expect to collect fees from the collector. In class actions, additional damages can reach up to $500,000 or one percent of the collector’s net worth, whichever is less.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692k – Civil Liability Save voicemails, log call times, and keep every letter. Documentation is what separates a strong claim from one that goes nowhere.