Alabama debt collection laws combine federal rules under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act with state-specific limits on lawsuits and wage garnishment. If a collector is contacting you in Alabama, you have the right to demand written proof of the debt, to limit how often you’re called, to stop contact in writing, and to sue for money damages if the collector breaks the rules. Alabama also gives you one of the shorter statutes of limitations in the country for credit card debt, and state law shields 75% of your paycheck from garnishment.
Which Collectors the Law Actually Covers
The FDCPA governs third-party debt collectors, not every business trying to get paid. A “debt collector” under federal law is someone whose main business is collecting debts owed to others, or who regularly collects debts on behalf of another party.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692a – Definitions
Several people you might assume are covered are not. Original creditors collecting their own debts, such as a hospital billing department or the credit card issuer itself, fall outside the FDCPA. Corporate affiliates collecting for a related company under common ownership are exempt if debt collection isn’t their main business. Federal and state employees collecting in their official duties are excluded, and so are process servers delivering legal papers.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692a – Definitions
The practical takeaway: the federal protections in this article kick in the moment the original company hands your account to a collection agency. Before that point, other consumer protection laws may apply, but the specific FDCPA prohibitions do not.
What Debt Collectors Are Prohibited From Doing
Federal law splits illegal collection conduct into two buckets. The first is harassment. Collectors cannot threaten violence, use obscene language, publish lists of people who supposedly refuse to pay, or advertise a debt for sale to pressure payment. They cannot call repeatedly with intent to annoy, and they must identify themselves when they call.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692d – Harassment or Abuse
The second is deception. A collector cannot misrepresent the amount you owe, claim to be an attorney when it isn’t, or threaten actions it doesn’t intend to take. Threats of arrest, wage garnishment, or property seizure are illegal unless the action is both legally available and something the collector actually plans to pursue. Idle threats used to scare payment out of you break the law.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692e – False or Misleading Representations
Collectors must also identify themselves as debt collectors in their first communication with you and in every one afterward. Disguising the purpose of a call or letter violates the statute.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692e – False or Misleading Representations
How Often a Collector Can Call You
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Regulation F, effective November 2021, sets a concrete ceiling. A debt collector is presumed to comply with the harassment rule if it places no more than seven phone calls within seven consecutive days about a particular debt. After it actually speaks with you on the phone, it must wait at least seven days before calling again about that same debt.4eCFR. 12 CFR 1006.14 – Harassing, Oppressive, or Abusive Conduct
The limit is per debt. If a collector is handling multiple accounts in your name, each account has its own seven-call ceiling, so the total volume can be higher than the rule sounds.
Text Messages, Email, and Social Media
Regulation F allows collectors to contact you through electronic channels, with limits. Any social media message about a debt must be private. A collector cannot post on a public profile, timeline, or anywhere your friends and followers can see it.5eCFR. 12 CFR 1006.22 – Unfair or Unconscionable Means A friend request or contact request from a collector must identify the sender as a debt collector. Every electronic message has to include a simple way for you to opt out of further contact through that channel.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can a Debt Collector Contact Me Through Social Media?
Collectors also cannot send debt-related emails to an address they know your employer provided.
The 30-Day Window to Dispute a Debt
Within five days of first contacting you, a debt collector must send you written notice showing the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor, and a statement of your right to dispute it. If all that information appeared in the initial communication, a separate written notice isn’t required.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692g – Validation of Debts
You then have 30 days from receiving the notice to dispute the debt in writing. If you do, the collector must stop all collection activity until it obtains verification and mails that verification to you. You can also use this window to request the name and address of the original creditor if the debt has been sold.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692g – Validation of Debts
This is where consumers most often lose leverage. If you don’t dispute the debt within those 30 days, the collector may treat it as valid. That doesn’t legally establish that you owe it, but it removes your strongest procedural tool for forcing the collector to prove the debt is real and accurate. If a collector contacts you about a debt you don’t recognize, dispute it in writing right away.
Telling a Collector to Stop Contacting You
You can end contact by sending a written cease-communication request. Once the collector receives your letter, it can contact you only for three narrow purposes: to confirm it’s ending collection efforts, to notify you that a specific legal remedy may be pursued, or to inform you that a specific remedy will be pursued.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection With Debt Collection
An important limitation: cutting off communication does not extinguish the debt. The creditor can still sue you. What the letter buys is quiet, not a discharge. If the debt is legitimate and within the statute of limitations, negotiating a payment plan is often a better use of the leverage you have than silencing the phone.
Alabama’s Statute of Limitations on Debt
Alabama sets different filing deadlines by type of debt. Once the statute of limitations passes, the creditor can no longer sue to collect, though the debt itself still exists.
- Open accounts, including most credit cards: 3 years from the date of last activity.9Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-2-37 – Commencement of Actions
- Unsealed written contracts: 6 years from default.10Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-2-34 – Commencement of Actions
- Oral contracts: 6 years.10Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-2-34 – Commencement of Actions
- Stated or liquidated accounts, including personal loans: 6 years.10Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-2-34 – Commencement of Actions
- Sealed written contracts: 10 years from default.
Three years on credit card debt is one of the shorter windows in the country. If you stopped paying more than three years ago and haven’t been sued, the creditor has likely lost the ability to take you to court.
The Time-Barred Debt Trap
Under Regulation F, a debt collector cannot sue you or threaten to sue you on a debt that has passed the statute of limitations. The only exception is filing a proof of claim in a bankruptcy proceeding.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1006.26 – Collection of Time-Barred Debts
Collectors can still ask you to pay old debts voluntarily. Here’s the risk: in some situations, making even a small payment on an expired debt can restart the statute of limitations clock and give the creditor a fresh window to sue. If a collector calls about a very old account, confirm when the limitations period ran before you agree to anything or send any money.
How Much of Your Paycheck a Collector Can Take
A creditor with a court judgment in Alabama can seek to garnish your wages. Alabama law protects 75% of your wages, salary, or other compensation. The creditor can only reach the remaining 25%, and your employer must withhold that amount until the judgment is paid off.12Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 6 Civil Practice 6-10-7
Federal law adds a floor. If your weekly disposable earnings are below $217.50 (30 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25), nothing can be garnished. Just above that line, the garnishment is capped at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which earnings exceed $217.50. Between Alabama’s rule and the federal floor, whichever protects more of your paycheck wins.
Some income is generally off-limits to private collectors on consumer debts like credit cards and medical bills: Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, veterans’ benefits, workers’ compensation, and unemployment insurance. Government debts such as back taxes and defaulted student loans follow different rules.
Suing a Collector Who Broke the Rules
If a debt collector violates the FDCPA, you can sue in state or federal court. Three categories of recovery are available. Actual damages cover any real financial harm the violation caused. Statutory damages of up to $1,000 per lawsuit are available in an individual case, whether or not you can prove actual harm. And if you win, the court awards reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692k – Civil Liability
The fee-shifting piece is what makes these cases practical. Many consumer attorneys take FDCPA claims on contingency because the statute guarantees they get paid if the case succeeds, even when the individual damages are modest. The $1,000 cap on statutory damages isn’t meant to make you whole; it gives you standing to hold a collector accountable when the harm is real but hard to price.
Where to File a Complaint in Alabama
The Alabama Attorney General’s Consumer Interest Division accepts complaints through its online form or by phone at 1-800-392-5658. A consumer specialist reviews the file, and you can upload letters, call logs, and other supporting documents. A complaint is not a lawsuit, and the office may direct you to a private attorney depending on the facts.14Alabama Attorney General’s Office. Consumer Complaint
You can also file with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which enforces Regulation F, and the Federal Trade Commission. For an individual FDCPA claim with money on the line, a consumer rights attorney is usually the fastest route to a real outcome, and the fee-shifting rule means most will evaluate your case at no upfront cost.