Andre is a 30-year old who works in sales for a medical device company. Although he makes a decent living now, he struggled financially in his 20s and has a few debts in collections due to his over-reliance on credit cards after college.
Andre has been dating Stephanie for nearly a year now and they’ve recently talked about moving in together. Andre hasn’t figured out yet how to tell Stephanie about his credit card debt.
One night, Stephanie mentions that she’s been getting a bunch of calls from an unknown number for the last few weeks. Stephanie never answered any of the calls and the caller never left a voicemail. Until today. Curious who’s been calling her over and over, Stephanie finally answered the phone. Turns out, it was a debt collector who told Stephanie he was trying to get in touch with Andre about an unpaid credit card bill.
When Stephanie told Andre this, he was humiliated. Although she says that she understands, Andre thinks that she’s having second thoughts about moving in with him.
Were the collector’s repeated calls to Stephanie illegal?
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act forbids a debt collector from communicating with your friends and family. In fact, collection communications to most third-parties are illegal.
The key to understanding the extent to this rule, though, is the word “communicate.” The law defines “communicate” as the conveying of information about a debt. So, for example, a missed call with no voicemail probably is not a “communication” because no information about a debt was conveyed. Therefore, the collection calls that Stephanie didn't answer weren't illegal because the collector didn't "communicate" anything about a debt. But the call that Stephanie picked up where the collector told her about Andre's debt was an illegal communication with a third party.Communications with certain third parties are allowed
There are a few exceptions to the general rule, though. A collector is allowed to communicate with a couple of people without breaking the law, including:
your spouse
your attorney
the debt collector's attorney
the creditor (ie. the debt collector's client)
the creditor's attorney
a credit reporting agency (ie. Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, etc);
A collector may also communicate with your employer if it's necessary to enforce a court judgment. For example, a debt collector who has a judgment against someone and wants to garnish his wages can call that person’s employer to confirm that he works there.
A collector may also communicate with a third-party to learn your contact information
Another exception to the general rule against third-party communications is the "location information" exception. The law allows debt collectors to call friends or family to learn your address and phone number. But this call is strictly regulated:
the collector must identify himself and tell your friend that he is confirming your location information;
the collector can't identify his employer unless your friend asks;
the collector can't tell your friend that you owe a debt or discuss the details of the debt;
in most cases, the collector can't ask your friend to have you call the collector back;
in most cases, the collector only gets to make this "location information" call one time
Understand, however, that if the collector already knows your address and phone number, then it has no need to call a third party to get your location information.
HOW TO USE THE FDCPA TO STOP ILLEGAL COLLECTION CALLS TO third parties
The FDCPA allows you to sue a debt collector who violates the law. It's a great way to stop illegal collection calls to you friends and family and to hold the debt collector accountable for its conduct. Under the FDCPA, a successful claim gets you:
Up to $1,000 in statutory damages (even if you've suffered no monetary loss);
Provable actual damages (including for emotional distress);
Your attorney fees and court costs must be paid by the collector
Most consumer lawyers handle FDCPA lawsuits on a contingency fee. This means that you don't pay any fees unless your attorney recovers money for you and those fees come from the collector's pocket, not yours. Congress wrote the FDCPA this way to incentivize people to enforce the FDCPA and help the government regulate debt collectors and ensure compliance with the law.
Did a debt collector illegally call someone that you know? Get a free consult now.