FTC Submits 2011 Fair Debt Collection Practices Report to Congress

At a time when many consumers are having trouble paying their debts, the Federal Trade Commission issued its 33rd annual report in early 2011, describing the agency’s law enforcement and other efforts to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive debt collection practices.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits these and other improper practices by third-party debt collectors and requires that the Commission submit annual reports to Congress discussing the agency’s administration of the FDCPA.

Data in the report show that in 2010, as in other recent years, the FTC received more complaints about debt collection than any other single industry. Specifically, the agency received 140,036 debt collection complaints in 2010, up from 119,609 complaints in 2009.

The top three categories of complaints about third-party collectors were:

– calling repeatedly or continuously;
–misrepresenting the character, amount, or status of the debt (including demanding a larger payment than is permitted by law); and
–failing to send consumers a statutorily required written notice about the debt and their rights.