How Much Power Does a Power of Attorney Have?

Sections 805(b) and 805(d) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allow debt collectors to communicate with select parties other than the consumer. For the purposes of defining attorney representation in the FDCPA, the Federal Trade Commission interprets an attorney to be "someone who graduated from law school and passed the bar examination of at least one state." In limited case law, the courts have looked first to the statute, then to the language in the power of attorney document.