Consumer Law

Does The Debt Go Away If I File A Federal Lawsuit Under The FDCPA

By M. Stan Herring

A question we are sometimes asked is "Does it matter if I actually owe the debt that an abusive debt collector is collecting on and if I sue the abusive debt collector does the debt go away?" The short answer to this question is "No".

Whether or not you owe the debt does not matter if you are the victim of an abusive debt collector. There are four essential elements of having a claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and not owing the debt is not one of them.

The flip side of the coin is that just because you can sue an abusive debt collector (and if you can you often should) this does not mean you don't owe the debt. Of course, if the debt collector (debt buyer) sues you and loses as they often do because they cannot or will not prove you owe the debt and that they own the debt, then you have a judicial determination that you do not owe the debt collector any money.

We thank Nicholas Ortiz for his fine post on "The Concept Of An FDCPA Suit" that reminded us of this question that is often asked.

If you have any further questions or would like us to mail you more information about your options and rights under the law, please feel free to contact us.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on February 05, 2009 (boomark / email).