Collection Agencies in Florida| Debt Collection Laws

Florida Debt Collection Laws Summary

• The Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (CCPA) supplements the protections provided by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Unlike the FDCPA, it also covers original creditors.
• Florida requires all debt collectors to be registered with the State of Florida. FCCPA protects consumers from abusive, harassing, and unfair debt collection practices.
• Debt collectors may report the debt to credit reporting companies.
• Statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit to recover debt. In Florida, there is a four to five-year limit for filing a lawsuit depending on the type of debt and agreement.
• A debt collection agency will typically recover money using collection letters and collection calls, however, if need be ( and with the creditor’s consent), they may even take legal action against the debtor in the court and attempt to get judgement for garnish wages or even place liens. Legal action is contingency-based service, which means a collection agency gets only a percentage of what they recover. They can handle cases for both small businesses, hospitals and medical practices. Jurisdiction is typically decided near the residential address of the debtor.
• Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) protects consumer rights against harmful trade practices.

Florida Debt Statistics

• Average Student Loan in Florida: $25.5K
• The average mortgage debt in Florida was $188K in 2019.
• The average credit card debt in Florida as of 2019 is $9,300
  Per capita auto loan debt is around 5K
• Floridians had an average credit score of 668 in 2017

Florida Geographical Stats

• Population in Florida: 19.06 million (year 2018)
• Number of millionaires: 885K  ( year 2018)