Section 14-202 - Certain acts prohibited. - Maryland Statutes

§ 14-202. Certain acts prohibited.
 

In collecting or attempting to collect an alleged debt a collector may not: 

(1) Use or threaten force or violence; 

(2) Threaten criminal prosecution, unless the transaction involved the violation of a criminal statute; 

(3) Disclose or threaten to disclose information which affects the debtor's reputation for credit worthiness with knowledge that the information is false; 

(4) Except as permitted by statute, contact a person's employer with respect to a delinquent indebtedness before obtaining final judgment against the debtor; 

(5) Except as permitted by statute, disclose or threaten to disclose to a person other than the debtor or his spouse or, if the debtor is a minor, his parent, information which affects the debtor's reputation, whether or not for credit worthiness, with knowledge that the other person does not have a legitimate business need for the information; 

(6) Communicate with the debtor or a person related to him with the frequency, at the unusual hours, or in any other manner as reasonably can be expected to abuse or harass the debtor; 

(7) Use obscene or grossly abusive language in communicating with the debtor or a person related to him; 

(8) Claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a right with knowledge that the right does not exist; or 

(9) Use a communication which simulates legal or judicial process or gives the appearance of being authorized, issued, or approved by a government, governmental agency, or lawyer when it is not. 
 

[An. Code 1957, art. 83, § 167; 1975, ch. 49, § 3.]