Many consumers across the country who have found themselves too deep in debt, whether it’s related to credit cards or otherwise, may discover that their balances were sold to a debt collection agency. Now the rules regulating their debt collectors could soon be changed.
According to a report in the New York Times, the Federal Trade Commission has asked for what it termed “significant reforms” to the laws that protect consumers from unfair practices by debt relief agencies.
The problem is that many of these current laws vary widely from state to state, with some statutes of limitations lasting just three years, while other states allow them to stretch on to 10 years, the report said. Similarly, some states allow collection companies to pursue debt that is outside these time periods, but they are prohibited from suing over the totals, or even threatening to do so.
Many consumer advocates say that these companies go too far in harassing consumers whose debts they have purchased from credit card lenders, though federal law prohibits such practices.
