Debt Collection Laws in Texas: Contact Rules, Disputes, and Deadlines

Debt collection laws in Texas give you stronger protections than most states. A state statute, the Texas Debt Collection Act, covers both third-party collectors and original creditors, while the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act adds a second layer that applies to third-party collectors. Together they control when a collector can call you, what they can say, what property they can reach, and how long they have to sue. One Texas-specific rule stands out: a payment on an old debt cannot restart the four-year clock for a lawsuit, a safeguard that quietly saves people from resetting debts they thought were closed.

Which Laws Apply to Which Collectors

The federal FDCPA applies to third-party debt collectors, meaning companies that buy debts or are hired to collect someone else’s debt.¹ It does not cover the original creditor who loaned you money or issued your credit card. The Texas Debt Collection Act fills that gap. Unlike the federal law, the TDCA applies to original creditors collecting their own debts as well as third-party collectors.² So if your own bank is calling about a past-due card, the TDCA still governs how they can behave.

When both laws apply to the same collector, the stricter rule wins. The FDCPA preserves state laws that give consumers more protection than the federal floor.³

When and How a Collector Can Contact You

Collectors can reach you by phone, mail, email, or text, but each channel has limits. Calls are restricted to the hours between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in your local time, unless you’ve told the collector a different window works for you. On the first contact, the caller must disclose that they are a debt collector attempting to collect a debt.¹

The Seven-Call Rule

Federal Regulation F sets a concrete cap. A collector is presumed to be harassing you if they call more than seven times in any seven consecutive days about the same debt, or if they call within seven days after actually reaching you by phone about that debt.⁴ The limit is per debt, so a collector working two of your accounts could call seven times per week on each.

Emails, Texts, and Opting Out

Any email or text has to give you a clear, free way to opt out of that channel. Collectors cannot charge you to opt out or demand extra information beyond your contact details and preference. Once you opt out, they have to stop using that channel.

Stopping All Contact

You can end collector communication entirely by sending a written request telling them to stop contacting you. After they get the letter, they can only reach out to confirm receipt or to notify you of a specific legal action, such as a lawsuit.¹ The letter stops the phone calls and mail. It doesn’t erase the debt, and a creditor can still sue.

Contacting Other People About You

Collectors can discuss your debt with your spouse, your attorney, or a co-signer. They cannot discuss it with anyone else. If they call an employer, neighbor, or relative, they are limited to asking for your address or phone number and cannot reveal that you owe money.¹

What Collectors Are Not Allowed to Do

Both laws prohibit a long list of tactics grouped around threats, deception, and harassment.

A collector cannot threaten to have you arrested for an unpaid consumer debt. Credit card balances and medical bills are civil matters, not criminal ones, and arrest threats are illegal no matter how they’re phrased.⁵ They also cannot threaten legal action they don’t intend to take. The TDCA specifically forbids threats to sell your debt while falsely claiming the sale would strip your defenses.

On the deception side, collectors cannot lie about the amount you owe, pose as attorneys or government officials, or send documents dressed up to look like court filings.⁶ They cannot falsely accuse you of fraud or misrepresent the legal status of the debt. Any deceptive practice used to pressure payment, including overstating what the collector can legally do, violates the TDCA.⁵

Profane or abusive language is off-limits, and so are repeated calls placed to annoy or intimidate.²

Your 30-Day Right to Dispute

Within five days of first contacting you, a collector has to send a written validation notice identifying the creditor, the account, and the amount owed.⁷ You have 30 days from receiving that notice to dispute the debt in writing. If you do, the collector must stop all collection activity until they send you verification of the debt or a copy of a court judgment.⁸ If they can’t produce verification, they cannot keep trying to collect.

This is the right people let expire most often. If anything in a collection notice looks wrong — the amount, the creditor, the account — send the dispute in writing inside those 30 days. You can also dispute inaccurate debts directly with the credit bureaus, which must investigate within 30 days of receiving your dispute.⁹

The Four-Year Deadline to Sue

Texas gives creditors four years to file a lawsuit on most consumer debts, including credit card balances, medical bills, and personal loans.¹⁰ The clock generally starts on the date of last default or last account activity. Once four years pass, the debt is time-barred, and a creditor who sues can be defeated by raising the expired limitations period as a defense.

Texas offers a protection here that most states don’t. Under Section 392.307 of the Texas Finance Code, the statute of limitations cannot be revived by making a payment, signing a promise to pay, or acknowledging the debt.¹¹ In many other states, a single small payment on an old debt resets the entire clock. In Texas, once the four years run out, they stay out. Debt buyers are also barred from suing on time-barred debts.

A time-barred debt doesn’t vanish. Collectors can still call or send letters and offer settlements. If one threatens to sue on a debt you believe is time-barred, respond in writing and be prepared to raise the limitations defense if they file.

What Creditors Can and Cannot Reach

Texas shields wages from garnishment for consumer debts more broadly than almost any other state. Your paycheck cannot be garnished for credit card balances, medical bills, or personal loans.¹² The exceptions are child support, spousal maintenance, federal tax debts, and federally backed student loans.¹³

Even after a creditor wins a court judgment, Texas protects a wide range of property from seizure:

Your homestead: up to 10 acres in an urban area, or up to 100 acres for a single adult (200 for a family) in a rural area. There is no cap on the home’s value.¹⁴
Personal property up to $50,000 in aggregate value for a single adult, or $100,000 for a family, covering home furnishings, clothing, food, trade tools, and one motor vehicle per licensed family member.
Qualified retirement plans, IRAs, and similar accounts, generally protected under both Texas and federal law.

Federal benefits deposited in a bank account get an extra layer of protection. Social Security, VA benefits, Railroad Retirement, civil service retirement, and SSI payments are shielded from garnishment. When a garnishment order hits your bank, the bank must review the last two months of deposits and protect any amount attributable to federal benefit payments in that window.¹⁵ Those funds stay available to you even while the rest of the account is frozen.

The Bank Account Catch

Here’s what surprises most Texans. Your paycheck is protected from garnishment, but that protection ends once the money hits your bank account. Deposited wages are no longer treated as current wages under Texas law, and a creditor with a judgment can garnish your bank account to collect them.¹² The creditor has to go back to court for a writ of garnishment first, and you get notice and the chance to claim any exemptions that apply.

Because Texas exemptions are broad, many consumer debtors end up effectively judgment-proof: the creditor wins in court but finds little to seize. Even so, judgments in Texas last 10 years and can be renewed, so they don’t quietly expire.

If You’re Sued, Answer in 14 Days

If a creditor files a lawsuit, you’ll be served with court papers. In Texas justice court, where most smaller debt cases are filed, you have 14 days from the date of service to file a written answer.¹⁶ If the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, you have until the next business day.

Missing that deadline is the most damaging move you can make. Without an answer, the creditor can ask the court for a default judgment, which hands them everything they asked for without you ever presenting your side.¹⁶ Once they hold a judgment, they can pursue bank levies and property liens that were off the table before. Defenses like a time-barred debt or an inflated amount only matter if you show up to raise them.

Your answer doesn’t need to be elaborate. Deny the claims you dispute and state any affirmative defenses you have, such as expiration of the statute of limitations or the wrong amount. If you can’t afford an attorney, Texas Law Help and local legal aid organizations can walk you through it.

Reporting a Collector and Suing for Damages

If a collector breaks the rules, you can file complaints with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Federal Trade Commission, or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.¹⁷ The Attorney General’s office takes complaints through its consumer complaint portal.¹⁸

You can also sue. The remedies depend on which law was broken:

Under the TDCA, you can recover actual damages caused by the violation, along with injunctive relief to stop ongoing illegal conduct. If you win a claim involving threats, harassment, or misrepresentation of a disputed debt, you are entitled to a minimum of $100 for each violation, with no statutory cap above that floor.¹⁹
Under the FDCPA, you can recover actual damages plus up to $1,000 in statutory damages per lawsuit. The $1,000 limit applies per case, not per violation. The court must also award reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs to a successful plaintiff.¹

Because the FDCPA shifts attorney’s fees to the collector when you win, many consumer attorneys handle these cases on contingency, meaning you pay nothing upfront. If a collector has threatened you, lied about what you owe, or ignored a written request to stop calling, document every incident with dates, times, and screenshots. That record is what turns a complaint or a lawsuit into a strong one.

1
Federal Trade Commission. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
2
Office of the Attorney General. Your Debt Collection Rights
3
Federal Trade Commission. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act – Section: Relation to State Laws
4
eCFR. Part 1006 Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F)
5
State of Texas. Texas Finance Code 392.301 – Threats or Coercion
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is an Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Practice by a Debt Collector
7
eCFR. 12 CFR 1006.34 – Notice for Validation of Debts
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692g – Validation of Debts
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does It Take to Repair an Error on a Credit Report
10
Texas State Law Library. What Is the Statute of Limitations on Debt
11
Texas State Law Library. Guides – Time-Barred Debts
12
Texas Law Help. Garnishment in Debt Collection
13
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA)
14
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 41.002 – Definition of Homestead
15
eCFR. Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
16
Texas Law Help. How to Answer a Debt Collection Case in Justice Court
17
Federal Trade Commission. Debt Collection FAQs – Section: Where Do I Report a Debt Collector for Doing Something Illegal
18
Office of the Attorney General. File a Consumer Complaint
19
State of Texas. Texas Finance Code 392.403 – Civil Remedies