Telephone Consumer Protection Act
If you have outstanding personal loan debt, credit card debt, charged off auto loans, or even student loans your creditors, their debt collection agencies or their attorneys may be contacting you by phone call or text message regarding those debts. Unsolicited debt collection calls, text messages or e-mails frequently interrupt work or other daily activities. In certain circumstances, these calls and texts may be a violation of a federal law known as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
If you believe your rights under the TCPA have been violated by a creditor or debt collector, you are entitled to stop this harassing behavior and you may also be entitled to statutory damages for each call in violation of the TCPA. Under the TCPA, statutory damages may range from $500.00 to $1,500.00 per call.
What Is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or the TCPA, is a federal consumer protection law intended to protect consumers from certain unwanted phone calls, cell phone texts, e-mails and faxes. The TCPA prohibits companies, including creditors and debt collectors, from placing or sending auto-dialed calls, texts, e-mails or faxes to individuals without the individuals’ prior consent.
If your rights have been violated by debt collector harassment through ILLEGAL calls and texts, Congress gave you the opportunity to protect your rights under the TCPA through private lawsuits. The TCPA provides consumers with powerful legal recourse to file a lawsuit for each violation of the act. You may be able to recover from $500.00 to $1,500.00 for each call, fax or text which violates the TCPA.
What Are Some Common TCPA Violations?
Debt collectors, creditors, and other companies routinely harass people with illegal calls and texts in violation of the TCPA. The Puerto Rico Debt Collection Attorneys at The Batista Law Group will stop that harassment and demand the compensation you are entitled to under the TCPA. Some common examples of TCPA violations by debt collectors, creditors and other companies include:
• Calling an individual who has placed their number on a “do-not-call” registry
• Calling an individual using an artificial voice or recording
• Calling an individual before 8:00 AM or after 9:00 PM
• Using an autodialer to place calls to individuals with an artificial or prerecorded voice, without the individual’s prior consent
• Sending unsolicited text messages
• Sending unsolicited faxes
If you believe you are being contacted by a business by phone, text, or fax without your prior consent, contact our Puerto Rico Debt Collectoin Harassment Attorneys today to discuss your case in detail and to learn more about your rights and your possible options for relief.
What Compensation May I Receive In a Successful TCPA Case?
If you file a TCPA lawsuit and a court finds that a debt collector, creditor or other business violated your rights under the TCPA, you may be entitled to monetary compensation for those violations. Compensation in TCPA cases may include:
FIRST
You may receive statutory damages of $500 for each violation (that is, each call, text, or fax). If the court finds that a company willfully or knowingly violated the TCPA, the court can triple the damages to $1,500.00 per call and/or per violation.
SECOND
In the alternative to statutory damages, you may request reimbursement of actual damages for the costs and expenses that resulted from these violations. For example, if the violations resulted in medical expenses, lost income from missing work, cell phone minute usages, etc. you may be entitled to reimbursement of those actual damages.
THIRD
In addition to monetary damages, you may be entitled to seek injunctive relief to STOP debt collectors and/or creditors from placing further phone calls or sending additional texts or faxes to you without your prior consent.
How to File a TCPA Claim?
If you wish to file a lawsuit for the violation of your TCPA rights, the Debt Collection Harassment Attorneys at The Batista Law Group stand ready to help you. You can file a lawsuit in the court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or in federal court to seek either your actual damages for TCPA violations or statutory damages (including possible triple statutory damages) for each individual violation.
Many of our clients who come to us for help in resolving debts or mortgage issues do not realize that they may also have potential claims under the TCPA. If a creditor or debt collector files suit against you to collect on a debt, our attorneys can help you to file a counterclaim for their violation of the TCPA.
Also, if you believe you have been the victim of a TCPA violation, you can report the suspected violation to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC investigates suspected violations of the TCPA, issuing fines if it discovers the statute has been violated.
How We Use the TCPA To Stop Debt Collection Harassment?
The Puerto Rico Debt Collection Harassment attorneys at The Batista Law Group will work on your behalf to stop debt collection harassment and, as applicable, seek the compensation you are entitled to under the TCPA. In the years since the passage of the TCPA, there have been numerous cases that have set out the parameters of what constitutes prior consent, what is required to revoke prior consent, and which kinds of autodialing systems are considered illegal. Our TCPA attorneys have been at the forefront of this litigation, aggressively fighting to protect the rights of our clients and of all consumers under the TCPA. As a result, our attorneys are highly experienced and knowledgeable as to the circumstances that constitute a TCPA violation. Our lawyers can review your case to determine whether anything you have done may be construed as having given prior consent to being contacted by phone, text, or fax, or as revoking that consent, such as responding to a call or text by asking to be placed on a “do-not-call” list.
The Debt Collection Harassment attorneys at The Batista Law Group utilize the TCPA to stop debt collection harassment in three steps:
FIRST
We utilize the TCPA, and the lack of creditor consent for the illegal calls being placed, to STOP, IMMEDIATELY, all unwanted and ILLEGAL calls.
SECOND
We leverage any violation of the TCPA by the creditor or debt collector to DELETE AND ELIMINATE ANY DEBT the creditor or debt collector alleges you owe.
THIRD
if your rights under the TCPA have been violated, the Debt Collection Harassment Attorneys at The Batista Law Group will aggressively pursue the COMPENSATION YOU ARE ENTITLED TO under the TCPA.
If you have received unauthorized phone calls or texts from creditors or debt collectors, let us help you stop the harassment and allows us to fight to get you compensation you are entitled to under the law. You don’t have to simply ignore these calls, texts, or faxes. Each unsolicited communication could result in you receiving statutory damages of up to $1,500. The Puerto Rico Debt Collection Harassment attorneys at The Batista Law Group will review your case free of charge.