Published Friday, February 10, 2023 by Alan Holdren

Whom can you speak with as a collector trying to do your job?

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) states in Sub section 805(b).

“A collector may only discuss or imply the existence of a debt to a consumer, the consumer’s spouse, the consumer’s attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise

Permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor or the attorney of the debt collector.”

This seems to bet very straight forward and is something that we are very stringent on for fear of violations and general bad collection practices.

The other area of communications is the leaving of messages on answering machines/voicemails. FDCPA says, “a collector should not leave any messages on an answering machine that would disclose the existence of a debt.” This should be very simple, you cannot leave a message that some else could listen to and know that someone else has a debt being owed. Our standard practice is to leave a vague message that asks a certain person to call back on some personal business.

As you look at the issues of communication with a debtor, it should be as simple as talk to the right persona and do not leave any landmines out there to step on. You cannot use someone or thing as a substitute for talking directly to the person.