Like many states, Texas law spells out what procedures debt collectors must follow when trying to get money from you. Unlike the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which applies only to collection agencies and to attorneys hired to collect debts, Texas law also applies to creditors trying to collect on a personal, family or household debt.
Procedures
If you live in Texas and someone's trying to collect money from you, their collection procedure must avoid harassment, unfair practices or false statements. Harassment includes threats of violence, obscene language and threats to publicize your debts. Unfair practices include collecting more than you owe, taking your property when the law doesn't allow it or depositing a post-dated check early. False statements include a collector lying about her name or identity, pretending to represent law enforcement and threatening to sue if they don't intend to do so.
Communication
If you have an attorney, the creditor or collector must contact the attorney before talking to you. She can usually only talk to other parties -- friends, neighbors, family members -- to help track you down, and can only contact each individual once. It's illegal for her to tell anyone but you and your attorney that you owe money. Debt collectors can contact you by mail, telegram, phone or fax, but they cannot contact you at inconvenient times, such as after midnight, or call you so frequently it constitutes harassment.
Disputes
If you don't want to talk to the collector or creditor, send him a certified letter breaking off contact. Once he receives it, he can only contact you to tell you there will be no further contact, or that he's going to take a specific action, such as a lawsuit. The collector must tell you within five days of first talking to you how much you owe and to whom. If you write within 30 days denying the debt, he can't contact you again unless it's to present proof of what you owe.
Remedies
If a debt collector refuses to follow legal Texas procedure, you can file a complaint with state government. If the collector is your creditor, you can contact the Texas Consumer Credit Commissioner, either by phone or by a written complaint form. The Attorney General handles complaints against collection agencies and other third parties trying to collect debts. The Consumer Credit Commissioner recommends you keep records of the disputed debt, letters from the collector and copies of your responses to bolster your case.
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