Debt Collectors Will Soon Be Allowed To Reach You By Text Or On Facebook (cbsnews.com) 92
The federal government has cleared the way for collection agencies to send unlimited texts, emails and even instant messages to debtors on social media platforms. CBS News reports: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule late last week outlining how collectors can use new communication methods. The federal agency, which is charged with protecting Americans from financial abuse, did not limit the number of messages collectors could send, but it did require that each message come with instructions on how to opt out. The bureau also limited the number of times collectors may call someone to seven calls per week for each debt.
Consumer advocates criticized the rule for not requiring alleged debtors to consent before being contacted by email or text, and for setting a limit on phone contact that could result in a flood of calls for people who owe money to several creditors. Jay Gonsalves, president of Action Collection Agencies in Boston, called the rule a "win-win."
"We're hearing more and more from consumers that they don't want to talk to us on the phone. Nobody does anymore. Everyone communicates with text," said Gonsalves, formerly president of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, the collection industry's trade group. While consumers may not appreciate hearing about what they owe, Gonsalves added that keeping a debtor in the dark could hurt them in the long term. The rule will formally take effect one year after it's published in the Federal Register, or near the end of 2021.
Consumer advocates criticized the rule for not requiring alleged debtors to consent before being contacted by email or text, and for setting a limit on phone contact that could result in a flood of calls for people who owe money to several creditors. Jay Gonsalves, president of Action Collection Agencies in Boston, called the rule a "win-win."
"We're hearing more and more from consumers that they don't want to talk to us on the phone. Nobody does anymore. Everyone communicates with text," said Gonsalves, formerly president of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, the collection industry's trade group. While consumers may not appreciate hearing about what they owe, Gonsalves added that keeping a debtor in the dark could hurt them in the long term. The rule will formally take effect one year after it's published in the Federal Register, or near the end of 2021.
More and More (Score:5, Funny)
We're hearing more and more from consumers that they don't want to talk to us on the phone... said ... president of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.
Hard to believe!
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They don't want to talk to you via text, or on FB either.
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They don't want to talk to you via text, or on FB either.
One way to avoid talking to debt collectors is to pay your bills.
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If only that was true, but debt collectors don't care. They don't do any research at all - as long as your name possibly matches a debt they bought, you're guilty.
So you can be contacted for someone's debt - either because you shared the phone number with someone who owed themoney, or you share a name with them.
You have to remember this is a volume game - they more people they can force to pay up, the more profit they make. It's why they often
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So you can be contacted for someone's debt - either because you shared the phone number with someone who owed themoney, or you share a name with them.
Which is already illegal. Changing a law they ignore now won't change anything.
But once they've broken the law - and all debt collectors do all the time, they're not an annoyance so much as an outlet for all your frustration. You can vent on them, you can say, or threaten, anything and there's nothing they can do about it without identifying their own criminal asses to the authorities, and they know it.
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Spoken like a man whos never had a debt collector harrass them day and night for an invalid debt.
I literally had a guy turning up at my house threatening violence due to money the previous tenant owed and this stupid company decided the "debt passed on to the new tenant". Ended up having to take the fucker to the small claims tribunal (here in australia) to make him go away.
I found out a few years later that the regulators shut the fuckers down for that kind of tactic. But the point stands, these debt colle
Re: More and More (Score:2)
It's true! I don't know about you, but I call my debt collectors often and implore them to find new ways to contact me regarding my outstanding debts. I'm dying to hear about how much money I owe, as long as it's not via a phone. ;-)
In all seriousness, this might be a great incentive for people to get off of social media and their phones. Not that it will solve their debt problems but, ignorance is bliss.
I don't think so (Score:5, Insightful)
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Depends who you ask...
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It's works for some people. Just not us.
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Re:I don't think so (Score:5, Insightful)
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It's far more effective to scream threats and abuse back at them. What are they going to do about it? Complain to the cops?
"I was making this illegal call, criminally harassing the wrong person, and they said bad things to me."
They can't file a complaint with the cops without providing enough identifying information to track them down, personally and individually.
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If the calls are truly for someone you don't know, file a Cease and Desist letter.
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They were fraudulently attempting to extort a debt from you. It is illegal to go up to someone and claim they owe you money when they do not, that is fraud, to repeat that fraud compounds it to harassment and extortion because it treads into RICO territory as organised crime. Harass them back, start with a lawyer to force action out of the police and then target the debt collection agency, with criminal charges and a civil suit. If they can not prove you owe them money, you can prove, they attempted to exto
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They were fraudulently attempting to extort a debt from you. It is illegal to go up to someone and claim they owe you money when they do not, that is fraud, to repeat that fraud compounds it to harassment and extortion because it treads into RICO territory as organised crime.
Technically true, but just try fighting the third-party crook's stable of lawyers with whoever you could afford.
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Most debt collectors can't afford lawyers, or much of anything else. Mostly, they know how to avoid stepping over the criminal line far enough for the cops to act, and suing them it pointless because they have nothing to sue them form.
But you can certainly vent all of your life's frustrations on them, and there's nothing they can do about it.
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I thought that was it until about a year later. I started getting calls from a different company about the debt. This one was a debt colle
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All debt collection companies are crooks. They can't stay in business without breaking the law with every action they take. And they know it. Abuse them, scream obscenities at them, threaten to light their children on fire, they can't do anything about it without identifying themselves to the cops. If you're abusive enough, they'll stop, once the PTSD sets in.
And yes, they do sell debt to each other in a giant circle. Their normal game is to collect just enough to recover whatever they paid for it, and what
Re: I don't think so (Score:2)
Same here. About 10 years ago, some debt collector decided I was some guy with the same first name & totally different last name. Every few months, I get relentless calls related to the guy's student loans & medical bills.
The Fair Debt Collection Act (theoretically) provides DEBTORS with the right to say, "stop calling me, just sue me if you're serious", but does NOTHING to protect others who end up as collateral damage on the receiving end of calls for debts that aren't even theirs.
The best tactic
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If you don't want to be harassed by debt collectors, pay your bills.
Until the debtor's phone is cut off and their phone number is reassigned to you. I have no idea who Cassandra Huff is, but my wife gets calls for her debts every day with no way to opt out.
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Perhaps you should track down Cassandra Huff and explain to her that the debt collector owes her $1,000 for each phone call [ftc.gov].
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This is a government that works for the people?
I don't think so.
depends on who you define as people. the proles obviosly don't count anymore.
must mean only homo economicus with mega millions in the bank account
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Let's be clear: this was an action by a part of the current administration, led by a political appointee.
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Pay your bills and you don't have to worry about it.
If it were only that easy Mr. Sycophant.
I had one of those cock suckers harass me for a year looking for someone with a similar name to my 13 year old son. Despite telling them over and over they had the wrong house, they kept calling at all hours. One day I just snapped and threatened to sue them and turn them into the State Attorney General's office for harassment. That finally stopped it.
I also got harassing calls for an ex five years after we divorced. Debt collectors are the lowest form of sc
They don't want that either (Score:2)
We're hearing more and more from consumers that they don't want to talk to us on the phone. Nobody does anymore. Everyone communicates with text.
This may come as a surprise, but they don't want you to text either.
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There's going to be a lot of nastiness like this (Score:1, Insightful)
Meanwhile we're the ones that will suffer. The Dems don't look like they'll take the Senate, so kiss any stimulus goodbye. If you needed it, or if you needed extra help right now, sorry. But 68 million Americans just said "no". And if you're one of those 68 million that needs help
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Funny, I'm being labeled a troll...
Here's some quotes from Andrew Yang today:
"So you have to ask yourself, what has the Democratic Party been standing for in their minds? And in their minds, the Democratic Party, unfortunately, has taken on this role of the coastal urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life that has been declining for years!"
Yang, a New York businessman who's now a CNN contributor, called it a "fundamental problem for the Demo
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LOL, right, none of that is because Mitch McConnell has clogged Congress like a turd in a pipe.
Until Trump he was the greatest danger to the country.
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-1, Does not conform to Woke world-view
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Why is there an expectation that the federal government is an unlimited source of money?
Do you even know what the Federal Reserve does?
Blocking and number changing works quite well... (Score:5, Informative)
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That only works if you have an address to send it to. Mostly, they won't give you a mailing address (which is also illegal), and the texts will come from fake caller ID, and the Facebook messages will come from throwaway accounts.
Debt collectors are all crooks.
History of cavalier dishonesty and error (Score:4, Interesting)
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Read it again dumbfuck.
You should read it once dumbfuck. [donotcall.gov]
"The National Do Not Call Registry applies to any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through interstate phone calls. This includes telemarketers who solicit consumers, often on behalf of third party sellers. It also includes sellers who provide, offer to provide, or arrange to provide goods or services to consumers in exchange for payment."
The law being broken is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act [ftc.gov], which specifically prohibits disclosing to a third par
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"I'll be sure to tell them they you owe them $1,000 for the Fair Debt Collections Act violation of telling a third part you're trying to collect a debt, and offer to testify for them if they decide to sue you."
Have you ever been on one of these lists? (Score:3)
"We're hearing more and more from consumers that they don't want to talk to us on the phone. Nobody does anymore. Everyone communicates with text"
Get your head out of your ass, dude. It's not that they would rather you text them. It's that constantly hounding them is fucking annoying and doesn't magically manifest new wealth within their bank account.
Haven't the text messages gone the way of emails? (Score:2)
no thanks (Score:3)
I won't respond to anyone I do not know asking me for money when they contact me through text or online. At the most, I will take their information and look it up and contact their business either directly or through an attorney.
I'm sure scammers won't take advantage of this. (Score:3)
Really any halfwit scammer can start harassing people about their Verizon Bill in the Amount of $54.23 and eventually find a person who owes roughly that. and Boom people are handing over CC information.
Really I want to see some sort of "Verified Bill Collector" animation scrolling along the top of my phone when I get a text or call from one.. And a nice way to click in and verify exactly who they say they are, and what Debt they are collecting on.
This was ok in the days of landlines, but FFS we're in the 2020's now.
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Unlikely.
A verizon bill for a single person is likely at least $80. Couples, expect at least $120. I'd suggest going for $124.73.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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They immediately dropped that billing service and apologized to me at our next appointment.
Unlimited? (Score:2)
After the first one, they'll get blocked like everybody else.
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I wonder (Score:2)
This is going to go well (Score:2)
A lot of collection agencies sometimes resort to tactics that I can only describe as emotional bullying when dealing with people on the phone.
If they employ the same mechanisms on text messages or Facebook as they do when talking to someone on the phone, they are going to end up in a whole shitpile of trouble, because there will be a paper trail that shows just of how they treat the debtor, and just how unprofessional their conduct can actually get.
Easy solution for SMS and Facebook is to (Score:2)
Two sides to the issue (Score:3)
"Consumer advocates criticized the rule for not requiring alleged debtors to consent before being contacted by email or text"
It was probably agreed to when the debt was incurred, in the fine print.
Debt collectors should be required to clearly state debt details in all communications and should be prohibited from engaging relatives, friends & neighbors to aid in the debt collection.
That aside. If a debtor fails to pay then those costs get passed on to the rest of us.
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It was probably agreed to when the debt was incurred, in the fine print.
And if the alleged debtor turns out not to be the actual debtor, and thus never signed any fine print...?
I have no issue with debt collectors contacting people by phone, text, email, Facebook Messenger, or whatever else so long as they clearly identify themselves up front with the exact caller ID / email / screen name / etc. that appears in their business license. Any debt collector using a false identity to get past someone's automated screening is committing fraud and should have their license revoked upo
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Beyond that, we already have sophisticated systems for dealing with unwanted communications which we can apply to obnoxious debt collectors just as easily as spammers.
You say that like there's a difference between them.
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Debt collectors should be required to clearly state debt details in all communications and should be prohibited from engaging relatives, friends & neighbors to aid in the debt collection.
They are. [ftc.gov]
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Their purpose is to nag you until you give in.
Then they'll die trying cuz homey don't play dat way. I love nagging; it invigorates me and in return I'll do my best to ruin their day.
Some scumbag creditors chased *me* for a small debt my mother had when she died. Those fools spent way, way, way more time and money fucking around with me on the phone than the bill was worth. I wasn't responsible for it and I was happy to tell them to blow me every time they called.
Sigh. (Score:1)
Social Credit (Score:4, Interesting)
China's social credit score is almost redundant if you can just be harassed into "voluntarily" cancelling your phone, email, social media and other services just to avoid the bombardment of spam.
Unlimited texts and emails is harassment. Seven phone calls/week is harassment.
Sure, Social Credit may have more reach and wider application, but being effectively turned into a non-person will still ruin your life. Try getting a job or renting a house without a phone or email address or facebook account - not having all of these automatically marks you as suspicious and untrustworthy in the minds of potential employers, landlords, etc (who already demand your account names if not your login details).
Also, debt collectors are scum, and this will happen not only to people who owe debts they can't pay but also to people with similar names, to people whose identities have been stolen (and debts falsely incurred in their name), to people who had a debt but paid it (or discharged it through bankruptcy), to people whose names and contact details accidentally got onto robodebt databases, and to friends, families, neighbours, co-workers etc of alleged debtors.
Welp. Needed to stop using social media. (Score:2)
Too much information and too much fucking control.
Harrassment Should Not Be Legal (Score:2)
Private debt collection should not exist (Score:3)
I had the "fun" of being targeted by one such business, when I was cleaning up my mother's affairs. I don't know how they got her name and address - they were after someone else - but they flat-out refused to believe that I did not know the person they were after. These businesses basically engage in extortion: pay us or we will make your life hell.
These businesses not exist.
If someone owes you money, and refuses to pay? Take them to court and get a judgement. Let the court enforce the judgement - they have all sorts of tools, including wage garnishment. Selling debts to private companies with scummy business practices should not be an option.
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These businesses basically engage in extortion: pay us or we will make your life hell.
That's a two way street, and there's nothing they can do about it when you scream obscenities, or threats, back at them. They don't dare report it to the cops, because they'll have to identify themselves to do so, and when the cops get the whole story, you won't be the one in trouble. And they know it.
Oh great... (Score:2)
Really big issues: (Score:1)
Phishers! (Score:2)
Oh boy. Phishers will take advantage of this too. :( I'm going to block and ignore all even if legit. They need to prove it.
Messages about Debt (Score:1)