Are repo agents allowed to slander a person or harass your boss and friends and relatives while trying to find your vehicle and can they be sued for doing so in Florida?

Answer 1

If you lived up to the agreement you made with the lender, you would not have to worry about this. Make your monthly payments. If you are in financial trouble, contact the lender and work something out. I can assure you that they do not want to repo the car. Remember your credit will be ruined for 7 years, and you will still pay the difference in what the car sells for and what you owed, plus repo fees. They are harassing you because you have reneged on your agreement with them. Keep you word and make the payments. For your information, I have taken care of my financial obligations since that time and it was by no fault of my own that my pay had been screwed up. Furthermore, had I not been sent over to the Middle East with the military on a moments notice to defend your freedom and provide safety for the likes of jerks like the repo scum and you also, before the situation could be rectified, it would not have gone to the scum bags in the first place. Sit behind the safety of your computer and anonymity and know it is because of people like me that risk their lives and whose families make great sacrifices along with us, that afford you the freedom to put a few more dimples on your saddlebags and afford you the freedom to speak your peace. To answer the original poster, NO, they cannot harass you at your place of employment, or call third parties (friends, bosses, family members) other than to ascertain where you may be contacted. They are not allowed to divulge that you owe money, and they are limited in how many times they can contact a third party. The context of the law is within the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm#804 Specifically: � 804. Acquisition of location information [15 USC 1692b] Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall -- (1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer; (2) not state that such consumer owes any debt; (3) not communicate with any such person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct or complete location information; (4) not communicate by post card; (5) not use any language or symbol on any envelope or in the contents of any communication effected by the mails or telegram that indicates that the debt collector is in the debt collection business or that the communication relates to the collection of a debt; and (6) after the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with regard to the subject debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address, not communicate with any person other than that attorney, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to the communication from the debt collector. � 805. Communication in connection with debt collection [15 USC 1692c] (a) COMMUNICATION WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY. Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt -- (1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o'clock antimeridian and before 9 o'clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer's location; (2) if the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to such debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the debt collector or unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer; or (3) at the consumer's place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication. (b) COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. Except as provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a post judgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector. (c) CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt, except -- (1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector's further efforts are being terminated; (2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked by such debt collector or creditor; or (3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy. If such notice from the consumer is made by mail, notification shall be complete upon receipt. (d) For the purpose of this section, the term "consumer" includes the consumer's spouse, parent (if the consumer is a minor), guardian, executor, or administrator. It IS illegal to do this, and I would contact an attorney in your area to see if you have any recourse. Regardless of whether you paid your debt, or stopped paying it outright and they repo'ed the vehicle, it's still bad debt collection practices, and ILLEGAL to harass you in such a manner. To the obviously bitter bill collector type person, please refrain from making judgment calls on someone who, in this crap economy, may or may not be able to fulfill the terms of a contract, or, worse yet, are a victim of bad debt collection practices. FYI, there are a ton of "creditors" out there who use these harassing methods even when a debt isn't valid. Also, please note: You stated, "They are harassing you because you have reneged on your agreement with them." At NO TIME is the word "harassing" and the word "legal" likely to legitimately be in the same paragraph. Harassment is harassment is harassment and it's illegal. Many times, it's this HARASSMENT which causes an otherwise perfect debtor from being able to make arrangements, or properly communicate with their creditors, even when there are no problems. I personally hate calling any of my creditors, even for a balance check on a credit card. There is such an adversarial attitude from the get-go that most of us look at them as the enemy, even when there are no financial difficulties. Answer I agree with the first post that the debtor would not have to worry about it had the deal not been reneged on. So for military man: One of the biggest excuses is "My pay was messed up" for both military and non-military alike. Since leaving 'at a moment's notice' should not come to you as a surprise since that is generally what happens, then you should have a power of attorney for these matters so that someone can be legally contacted other than you to work out something. Since you could not be contacted and "legally" (there's that word again), we can't discuss your affairs with 3rd parties. We have no other option. If bill collectors waited for people to get their pay in order, then we might as well just stay at home most days. As for "harassing" at work, if you have a no contact restriction at work, then that's dandy; however, that doesn't mean that we can't repo your vehicle from work because, and you may have guessed it, that doesn't require us directly contacting you. Also, it's not illegal for contractors to offers finder's fee to your co-workers to give up the location of the vehicle, or better yet, if it's your business we will just make it simple and do a replevin. Again, the first post is dead-on. The last thing we want to do is repo a vehicle because it's a loss on our part. We usually don't repo unless a vehicle is at least 60 days past due (that's 3 payments, man.. you mean to tell me you couldn't manage to get in one payment, while your pay was 'messed up' to remedy that? How did you pay your other bills during this time?) Anyway, not all customers get the privilege of waiting 60 days till the repo man comes. And that comes from 3 factors: a probability to pay score, your credit score, and what your current pay history looks like. So I will take a wild guess that your credit is not up to par and this was not your first time being severely late on a payment. Sorry, but in this 'bad economy' that people like to use as another popular excuse, we can't sit around and wait for payments to roll in..sometimes ya just gotta repo. Now before anyone wants to add on to this answer adding me to the bitter pile, consider this: debt collecting is a lucrative job these days so don't knock it. I know some debt collectors, who are "harassed" by debt collectors so we are not immune. Most debts are valid to collect so if you are victim of a debt you do not owe, please do not hang up or ignore us; that only furthers your problem. We can only help rectify whose debt it is, if you talk to us. If you hang up, yes we will continue to call, because we will assume you are the right party. And lastly, calling people all day, most of which answer in a foul mood, is not my cup of tea for a career. It takes a special, patient person to choose this path. I am doing this as part of my studies. In a few months, I will move on to something else. It is quite funny when a debtor tries to provoke an argument by calling me uneducated, bitter, or just tell me I sound like an idiot (I do have the stereotypical, Southern accent by the way so I guess that's where the assumption of being uneducated stems.) Well, even if I was a high school drop-out doing this job, trust me, you have to know the ins and outs of the automotive financial industry to be an effective collector. We parrot the same educate/motivate speech all day so we can do this in our sleep. If it's one thing I have learned, one doesn't need a finance degree to do this job, just a little common sense. Now let me go put on running shoes; I feel a few of those dimples creeping up.

The guy that posted with the FDCPA info is the smartest of the bunch and answered your question.

Not paying your bills (worst case) is not smart, and it's not the way to live, but you also shouldn't be harassed for it. There's a reason why there are fair credit & collection acts!

Glad you're home!! God Bless!! :)

PS ... Bitter guy? Yeah, I've seen people in anger management more patient than you! :) Oops!! Forgot to mention that you might be eligible for help through the SCRA (Service member's Civil Relief Act) .. check out this link for more info! http://www.uscg.mil/legal/la/topics/sscra/about_the_sscra.htm