A Collection Agency is a business involved in the collection of debt from individuals or businesses. Sometimes, a collection agency employs lawyers to work on collection accounts. A collection agency must now abide by federal legislation called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as they work to collect debt from people or businesses. This law regulates the tactics a collection agency can use in debt collection. If you need to collect an unpaid debt, it may be a good idea to contract with a law firm that specializes in debt collection, as they will surely abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This is important because a collection agency violating this law can be fined in excess of the total amount of the debt they are attempting to collect for each instance of a violation of the law.