Florida Debt Collections: Statutes & Laws
Nexum SEO Article for Business Owners
January 12, 2016
New York Debt Collection Statutes & Regulations
September 15, 2016
Debt Collection Florida
The state of Florida has the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) which is a federal law that outlines what measures a creditor can and cannot take to collect debts. The FDCPA serves to protect the people from suffering from creditors using any abusive means when it comes to debt collection.
What They CAN do
The following measures can be legally taken by creditors/collection companies for debt collection:
- Contact you directly using letters, emails, phone calls, faxes, etc
- Contacting your lawyer in this manner if you have one representing you
- Repeatedly ask you to deliver, provided the way of asking is polite, professional and nonthreatening.
- Suing you for nonpayment
What They Can NOT Do
According to the FDCPA, the following actions can not be legally taken by creditors for debt collection:
- Impersonating a police officer or government agent
- Making threats
- Resorting to violence
- Harassment of you and/or family
- Disclosing your debt to any third party
- Contacting your employer/office regarding your debt unless they are directly involved
- Directly communicating with you if you have an attorney representing you
- Using abusive/derogatory/insulting words or taking such actions against you
Statute of Limitations for Debt Collection
A statute of limitations can be defined as ‘the time period immediately following the last payment made, during which the creditor has the legal right to sue for nonpayment’.
In simpler words, once an agreement is made, a certain time period is bracketed out during which the creditor can collect the indebted amount or sue the indebted for nonpayment. Once this time period elapses, the indebted person(s)/organisation no longer are liable to pay back the debt.
In the state of Florida, these are the statutes of limitations for debt collection:
- Statute of limitations for oral agreements is 4 years.
- Statute of limitations for debt collection for written agreements is 5 years.
- Statute of limitations for foreclosure is also 5 years.
- Statute of limitations for real property actions is 7 years.
- Statute of limitations for all kinds of domestic judgments is 20 years.
As per the Florida regulations, debt collection can only be carried out in a manner which is respective towards the indebted party while also being fair to the creditors for collecting their money.
