A Florida debt collector calling at night
In Florida, a person collecting a consumer debt may not communicate with you between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. in your time zone without your prior consent. The rule covers calls and texts, not only calls; the only carve-out is a compliant email. Because Florida's law applies to any person collecting a consumer debt, it reaches the original bank or store as well as collection agencies, with statutory damages of up to $1,000.
The phone rings at 9:40 p.m. Or a text arrives at 6:15 a.m. It is about a credit card, a car loan or a medical bill, and it is not the first time.
Florida sets a firm window for collection contact, and its version is broader than the federal rule in two ways: it covers more than calls, and it covers the original creditor.
The Florida rule
Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act says that "in collecting consumer debts, a person may not" communicate with the debtor between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the debtor's time zone without the debtor's prior consent (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(17)). A 2025 amendment, effective May 16, 2025, added one exception: the subsection "does not apply to an e-mail communication that is sent to an e-mail address and that otherwise complies with this section."
- Calls count. The rule covers any communication with you, not only calls you answer.
- Texts count. The amendment exempts compliant email only, not texts.
- Your time zone. For calls, the statute presumes your time zone from your area code; for toll-free numbers, it looks to your last known residence.
- Consent is the exception. If you told the collector to call you after 9 p.m. because you work days, that is prior consent.
The federal rule, and why Florida's is broader
Under the FDCPA, a collector may not communicate with you at a time it knows or should know is inconvenient, and absent other knowledge, before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at your location is presumed inconvenient (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(1); 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(b)(1)). The hours match Florida's.
The difference is who is covered. The FDCPA reaches third-party collectors, debt buyers and collection law firms, and generally not a creditor collecting its own debt. Florida's list of prohibited practices applies to "a person" collecting consumer debts, so it reaches the original bank, card issuer, lender or hospital too. Our post on the FCCPA and original creditors covers that in depth.
Late-night contact often comes with volume. Florida separately bars communicating with the debtor or family with a frequency that can reasonably be expected to harass (§ 559.72(7)). Federally, more than seven telephone calls in seven days about one debt is presumed harassment, and texts do not count toward that number (12 C.F.R. § 1006.14(b)(2)). See calls at bad hours.
Building the record
- Screenshot the call log. The time stamp on your phone is your evidence. Capture it before the phone rolls old calls off the list.
- Save texts and voicemails. Back them up; they carry the time and the sender.
- Note the number and the company. If the caller does not identify itself, write down the number and look for a match in your letters.
- Do not secretly record calls. Florida generally requires all parties' consent to record a phone call (Fla. Stat. § 934.03). Take notes instead.
- Put your contact wishes in writing. Tell the collector when it may and may not contact you, so there is no argument about consent. The letter builder writes a letter setting contact rules.
A pattern matters more than a single call. One call at 9:05 p.m. is a weak case; the same company calling at night week after week, after you told it to stop, is a different one.
What the law provides
A person who violates the FCCPA is liable for actual damages and additional statutory damages the court may allow, up to $1,000, plus punitive damages in the court's discretion (Fla. Stat. § 559.77(2)). The FCCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The court may award the defendant fees if a suit fails to raise a justiciable issue, so claims should rest on real facts. The deadline is two years after the violation (§ 559.77(4)).
If the caller is a third-party collector, the FDCPA may apply too, with actual damages plus statutory damages of up to $1,000, and it requires a collector found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs; its deadline is one year. Prerecorded calls to a cell phone without consent can also raise a TCPA claim, which sets $500 per violation (up to $1,500 if willful or knowing) and has no fee-shifting clause.
New York and New Jersey follow the federal hours; New York City's rules set the window in Eastern Time. See Florida, New York and New Jersey.
What to do this week
- Screenshot every contact before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., with the number visible.
- Match each number to a company and an account.
- Send a written letter saying you do not consent to contact before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
- Log each new call in the call log the day it happens.
- Mark the two-year FCCPA deadline from the earliest late-night contact.
Sources: Fla. Stat. §§ 559.72(7), (17), 559.77(2), (4), 934.03; ch. 2025-23, Laws of Fla. (SB 232); 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692c(a)(1), 1692k; 12 C.F.R. §§ 1006.6(b)(1), 1006.14(b)(2); 47 U.S.C. § 227(b).
Common questions
Does a text at 10 p.m. count?
Under the current text of Fla. Stat. 559.72(17), yes. The 2025 amendment exempts only an email sent to an email address that otherwise complies with the section. Texts are not exempted.
The collector is in California. Whose time zone applies?
Yours. The statute measures the hours in the debtor's time zone, and for calls it presumes your time zone from your phone's area code, with a separate rule for toll-free numbers that uses your last known residence.
My bank called at 7 a.m. about my own card. Is that covered?
Florida's prohibited practices apply to any person collecting a consumer debt, so an original creditor is covered by the FCCPA even though the federal FDCPA generally does not reach a creditor collecting its own debt.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.