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Respecting Privacy With Debt Collectors: When Is It Crossing The Line?

by MalloryMegan

Personal finance is an issue that is, well, personal. Due to the delicate nature of this subject, debt collection is closely monitored by Federal and State laws that do their best to protect the privacy of a debtor. The Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that all third party debt collectors must abide by and it comes with strict guidelines regulating how a collection agent may approach the issue of contacting consumers and how to preserve their privacy. First off, a bill collector can only speak about your debt to you, the credit bureaus, and the creditor that they are working for. They certainly cannot make up a list of their debtors to distribute to other creditors, or advertise a debt for sale.

The way that a third party collection agent is allow to correspond by mail is strictly monitored. Collections letters are only able to be sent in care of another person if you, the consumer, live at that address, or if you get your mail at that address. If the address where you receive your mail is shared, collections mail should be labeled "private," or "personal." Any mail that alludes to the fact that it could be correspondence from a collection agency is strictly prohibited; therefore, the envelopes sent by collections agents can't indicate the purpose of the letter in any way. Post cards are especially prohibited.

If a debt collector knows your name and your phone number and therefore can contact you yourself is not allowed to call your neighbors or family members. When they reach you, they must positively identify that they are speaking with you, the debtor, before they can proceed in their attempt to collect a debt. If a debt collector calls you at your job, you can ask them to stop calling you there and they must comply with your wish.

If a debt collector cannot locate you, they can call your family members or neighbors. In these circumstances, the collection agent has to identify themselves by name but certainly cannot offer the information that they are a collection agent. They are not allowed to let other people know that you owe money, or talk to them about account details. If a debt collector calls a third party to locate you, they cannot contact that person a second time, or leave any information about your debt on a third party voicemail.

If you are a family member or neighbor being called by a debt collector who is looking for someone you know, the FDCPA mandates that a collection agent is only permitted to call you in order to locate the person you know who owes the money, and only once. If a debt collector thinks you have new information they can contact you again, but only under those circumstances. If a debt collector is contacting you repeatedly about a third party, that can be considered harassment and you can file a complaint with your attorney general's office.

About the Author: Frank Cole