Debt collectors can call you between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in your local time zone, and no more than seven times about the same debt in any seven consecutive days. If you tell them a particular time or place is inconvenient, that window narrows further. These limits come from the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Regulation F, and they govern when a debt collector can call you, how often, and where.
The 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Window
Federal law treats any call before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. as presumptively inconvenient, and bars collectors from calling during those hours unless they have information suggesting otherwise.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection What matters is the time where you are, not where the collector is sitting. A call placed from a New York office at 9:00 a.m. Eastern lands on a California phone at 6:00 a.m. Pacific, and that call violates the rule.
The same statute bars contact at any time or place the collector knows or should know is inconvenient to you. The 8-to-9 window is the default; the inconvenience rule is the ceiling that sits above it.
Narrowing the Window Yourself
You can shrink the permitted hours by telling the collector that certain times do not work for you. No specific wording is required. Federal guidance recognizes statements like “I cannot be disturbed on Tuesdays and Thursdays” or “I can only talk between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays” as binding restrictions the collector must honor going forward.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1006.6 Communications in Connection with Debt Collection
This matters for anyone with a non-traditional schedule. A night-shift worker who sleeps during the day can tell a collector that daytime calls are inconvenient, and from that point on, calls during those hours become violations. The restriction applies whether you told the collector directly or the information came through the creditor’s file.
How Often They Can Call
Even inside the lawful hours, there is a cap on frequency. Regulation F presumes a collector is harassing you if it places more than seven calls about the same debt within any seven consecutive days. A separate cooling-off rule applies the moment you actually speak with the collector: once you have had a telephone conversation about a debt, the collector must wait at least seven days before calling you again about that debt.3eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1006 – Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F)
A few details shape how the cap works in practice:
- The limit is per debt, not per person. Two separate accounts assigned to the same agency can each generate up to seven calls per week.
- Calls you consented to in advance do not count against the limit.
- A ringless voicemail counts as placing a telephone call. Text messages and emails do not.
Texts, emails, and social media messages are governed by their own rules under Regulation F, but they are not telephone calls for purposes of the seven-call cap.
Calls to Your Workplace
A debt collector cannot call you at work once it knows or has reason to know your employer prohibits those calls.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection You trigger the protection by telling the collector, in a phone call or in writing, that your employer does not allow debt-related communications on the job. After that, any workplace call is a violation. The same rule blocks collectors from emailing an address they know your employer provided.3eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1006 – Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F)
When You Have a Lawyer
If a collector knows you are represented by an attorney on the debt and can readily find the attorney’s name and address, it must send all communications to your attorney rather than to you.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection The collector can only go around the attorney if the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable time or gives consent for direct contact. Representation plus notice is one of the most reliable ways to stop calls to you altogether.
Stopping the Calls Entirely
You have the right to shut down a collector’s calls with a written notice. Send a letter stating that you refuse to pay the debt, that you want the collector to stop contacting you, or both.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection Certified mail with a return receipt is not required by the statute, but the receipt gives you proof of the date the collector got your letter, which you will need if the calls continue.
Keep the letter direct. Include the agency’s full name and address, your account number if you have one, and an unambiguous statement that you want all communication to stop. Vague language gives the collector room to argue it didn’t understand.
Once the collector receives your notice, further contact is permitted only in three narrow situations:4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection with Debt Collection
- A one-time confirmation that the collector is ending its efforts.
- A notice that the collector or creditor may use a remedy it ordinarily uses, like reporting the debt to a credit bureau.
- A notice that the collector or creditor intends to take a specific action, like filing a lawsuit.
Anything beyond those three categories after your notice arrives is a violation. One caution: a cease letter stops the calls, but it does not erase the debt. The account can still be reported to credit bureaus, sold to another collector, or made the basis of a lawsuit.
Who These Rules Don’t Cover
The calling-hour rules apply to third-party debt collectors, meaning companies whose main business is collecting debts owed to someone else. An original creditor collecting its own account under its own name is generally not bound by these restrictions. The exception is when an original creditor uses a different name to make itself look like a separate collection agency; then it falls under the same rules as any other collector.5Federal Trade Commission. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The law also only covers debts incurred for personal, family, or household purposes. Business debts are generally outside its scope.5Federal Trade Commission. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
If a Collector Calls Outside the Limits
Start documenting. Note the date, time, phone number, and substance of every call. Save voicemails, texts, and emails. That record is what makes a violation provable.
From there, you have two options. You can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which oversees debt collection and forwards complaints to the company, generally seeking a response within 15 days.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Contact Us You can also sue the collector in federal or state court. A successful FDCPA suit can recover your actual damages, up to $1,000 in additional statutory damages per case, and your attorney’s fees and court costs.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692k – Civil Liability
The deadline is tight. You have one year from the date of the violation to file an FDCPA lawsuit, so if you plan to sue, the clock starts the day the illegal call happens.