Tag: Debt Collection
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibits debt collectors from using abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices to collect from you. The history of debt collection is older than the history of money itself, for debts can be incurred in coin-less barter systems just as easily.
Under Babylonian Law, strict guidelines governed the repayment of debts, including several basic debtor protections.
Both the Bible and Quran issue stern restrictions regarding how much interest to charge on a loan. In occupied territories of the Roman Empire, tax collectors were frequently associated with extortion, greed, and abuse of power.
In medieval England, a catchpole, formerly a freelance tax collector, was a legal official, working for the bailiff, responsible for collecting debts, using often coercive methods.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States, large financial institutions relied heavily upon foreclosure to collect outstanding mortgage debts, which gained an overwhelmingly negative public perception.
Creditors have more recently begun investigating less forceful methods for collecting debts from customers.
