Californians are protected from harassment over unpaid debts by the FDCPA and the California Rosenthal Act
Dealing with unwanted debt collector and creditor contact in California
HELPS serves as representation for its clients for the purpose of receiving unwanted debt collector contact. We use the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the “FDCPA” to protect our clients from debt collector harassment. This allows our clients, senior citizens and legally disabled persons, to use their protected incomes for their needs without having to endure unwanted debt collector contact.
For our California clients, however, we have an even stronger law to use in our defense of our clients. The Rosenthal Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1788, et seq. (“Rosenthal Act”) is similar to the FDCPA, however, the statute also extends to original creditors. The California statute applies to the collection of debts by both original creditors and debt collection agencies. In contrast, the language of the federal statute limits its application and remedies almost exclusively to debt collection agencies. The activities of original creditors are (with certain exceptions) outside the scope of the federal statute. Hence, the coverage of the federal statute is not nearly as broad as the California statute.
While the federal statute is written to only cover debt collection agencies and not original creditors, the practical effect of the federal statute changed on January 1, 2000. From and after that date, all creditors and debt collection agencies that are subject to the California statute are also subject to most of the standards of the federal statute. That means that businesses covered by the California statute (that is, both original creditors and debt collection agencies) must comply with the standards expressed in both the California statute and (with some exceptions) the federal statute, and, in case of violations, are subject to the remedies in both statutes.