Friend or Foe: Friending Your Bill Collector
An ABA Journal post by Martha Neil, Could Your New Facebook ‘Friend’ Be a Bill Collector? notes there is little regulation of collection practices on the Internet because current laws are focused on traditional technology.
As the number of consumers giving up landlines increases, and while the information age continues advancing, consumer protections will need to continue undergoing changes in order to keep up with the times. The Congressional Findings and Declaration of Purpose found in The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (PDF) notes:
There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy.
In addition, Subsection (b) adds:
Existing laws and procedures for redressing these injuries are inadequate to protect consumers.
Interestingly, consumers are not the only ones who may be interested in reform. Forbes.com posted a letter from the President of a Debt Collection company who also believes reform is needed:
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is over 30 years old and largely regulates communication pertaining to debt collecting. Keep in mind, when FDCPA was crafted over 30 years ago, answering machines were not even used, let alone faxing, e-mailing, texting, etc. ... The FDCPA is in desperate need of being updated
Without clear rules, debt collectors interested in collecting debts ethically will be disadvantaged against those who look to collect consumer debts any way they can, including through abusive tactics. This argument that debt collectors trying to follow the rules should not be prejudiced against those that are abusive is referenced in Subsection (e) of the FDCPA:
It is the purpose of this title to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.
With benefits to both consumers and collection companies available by updating collection laws, this should be an area that is ripe for review and change.
Federal law does allow states to impose higher standards than those found in the FDCPA and it will be interesting to see whether legislative changes come from the states or federal government. If neither, then I'd keep an eye on unfair and deceptive trade practices claims, as well as others, to emerge in this area as courts wrestle with trying to fit today's tactics into yesterday's laws.
