According to Section 813 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), a debt collector can be sued for damages per the FDCPA for using illegal or unethical collection tactics. Section 813 deals with suing debt collectors for violating the fair debt act.

The FDCPA is a federal Act that came into existence following the numerous complaints about the nefarious collection tactics of third party debt collectors. The NCO Financial Systems is one such debt collection agency known for its abominable and ruthless debt collection tactics.

The NCO has been in news for  harassment cases many times. The NCO is a third part debt collection agency that buys debts from cell phone companies, hospitals and the government for a throw away price and attempts to collect on them. Often you may even have paid the bill that these people are attempting to collect but that does not deter them. They are bent on thrusting a debt on you which is so old that you have no obligation to pay it. The NCO Financial scams are so many that we can read news about them stooping low to harass neighbors, relatives, previous occupants of your address, co-workers, etc. to collect the payments.

The NCO Financial scams are not limited to violations of the FDCPA alone. The NCO has paid millions of dollars to settle the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and other consumer acts. The NCO Financial scams are not related just to the violations of  federal laws but to the state legislation violations too.

Section 813 A explains how civil liability can be imposed in three situations that the NCO are known to commit: actual damages, discretionary penalties and costs and attorney's fees. Any NCO debt collector who fails to follow as provided in this section, he is liable to debtor, an amount of one thousand dollars per violation. If an NCO debt collector has been found to have harassed a debtor, the court may award the defendant attorney's fees reasonable in relation to the work expended and costs.

The NCO Financial Systems has violated the FDCPA countless times. In 2004, the NCO was penalized with 1.5 million dollars fine by the FTC for reporting inaccurate information to the credit bureaus. The NCO has been repeatedly taken to book for violating consumer laws and has been penalized by court of law.

Debt collection agencies like the NCO train debt collectors who are paid a commission on collecting a debt. Their salaries are normally very low and are dependent on their collections. This drives them to behave in an unethical way to gain money. In the bargain they do not spare the innocent consumers. The FDCPA is applicable to debt collectors as it is to collection agencies. Therefore, debt collectors become liable like their employers.