I'm in Texas and had a collection agency calling me nonstop, sometimes before 8 AM. When I finally answered, the guy told me they were going to garnish my wages over an old credit card. I panicked until I looked into it and found out Texas doesn't even allow wage garnishment for most consumer debts, so that threat was a lie to scare me into paying.
I also learned the Texas law is actually stricter than the federal one because it covers original creditors too, not just third party collectors. The statute of limitations here is 4 years for most debts, and apparently threatening to sue on a debt older than that can be its own violation.
Here's the breakdown I found that explained all of this pretty clearly: https://protectionforconsumers.com/texas-fair-debt-collection-practices-act-explained/
If a collector has pulled any of this on you, you may be entitled to damages. Has anyone here actually filed a complaint or gotten compensation for this kind of thing?