When enacting the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) statute, the U.S. Congress made a number of observations regarding abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices that it sought to address in this federal law:

• There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy.

• Existing laws and procedures for redressing these injuries are inadequate to protect consumers.

• Means other than misrepresentation or other abusive debt collection practices are available for the effective collection of debts.

• Abusive debt collection practices are carried on to a substantial extent in interstate commerce and through means and instrumentalities of such commerce. Even where abusive debt collection practices are purely intrastate in character, they nevertheless directly affect interstate commerce.

• It is the purpose of the FDCPA to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to ensure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent state action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.

In addition to the FDCPA—which applies in all 50 states—many states have consumer protection laws that prohibit and penalize abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices. These laws are usually located in a state’s statutes.

In Louisiana (LA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that applies to the state, as it does across all 50 states. The FDCPA was enacted to address a range of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices that Congress recognized as being prevalent. The law aims to prevent personal bankruptcies, marital instability, job losses, and invasions of privacy that may result from such practices. It also seeks to correct the inadequacy of existing laws in protecting consumers, to provide alternatives to abusive practices for collecting debts, and to address the impact of these practices on interstate commerce. The FDCPA encourages fair debt collection and levels the playing field for debt collectors who avoid abusive tactics. Louisiana also has its own state statutes that complement the FDCPA by providing additional consumer protection against debt collection abuses. These state laws work alongside the FDCPA to ensure consumers are protected from unfair debt collection practices within the state.