| Comment Number: | 529233-00068 |
| Received: | 1/7/2008 10:39:01 PM |
| Organization: | none |
| Commenter: | Michael Worsham |
| State: | MD |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Debt Collection Workshop |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
To: FTC Debt Collection Workshop: 1. The FDCPA's statutory penalty should be raised from teh curent $1,000. In 1991 the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. 227, was pased to protect telephone privacy. The TCPA established statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 (if willful or knowing). In 1994, Congress passed the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, and established statutory damages of $2,500 for violations. 18 U.S.C. section 2724. So the FDCPA's statutory damages are not keeping up with the value of privacy and/or inflation. Increased statutory damages would deter violations. Even $1,000 is just a cost of doing business for illegal debt collectors. Today's debt collectors file suits by the hundreds or thousands. They will dismiss a suit if it gets challenged in any way, or if they don't have their paperwork in order, even though the suit may be worth a couple thousand dollars. They have so many collection cases to file, they can easily dismiss suits worth real money. For similar economic reasons, they can afford to operate illegally, and pay $1,000 for the few suits that actually get filed against them and which make it through or close enough to trial. Increased statutory damages would also encourage individuals, as well as lawyers, to file suits. Increased statutory damages would also facilitate settlements. There should also be injunctive relief available under the FDCPA. What goes today with collectors sometimes is truly bad misconduct, which will not stop for the same reasons stated above: abusive collectors make more money breaking the law than complying with it. Thank you for considering these comments. Michael C. Worsham