subject: Bill Collectors Turn To Facebook To Find Elusive Debtors [print this page] The times they are a changing, and chances are your debt collector is changing with them. If you have been contacted by a debt collector before, you are most likely aware that most collection agents are strictly regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act- a federal law that dictates how they can approach you and proceed with the collection process.
Before, bill collectors used a process called "skip tracing," which is a way of tracking down hard to locate debtors. Skip tracing involves background checks, talking to post offices, old neighbors and family members, credit bureaus, and keeping a computer up to date with any data that may change on the elusive debtor's new accounts.
Nowadays, it seems as though debt collectors have found a cheaper, more efficient way to locate their debtors - social networking websites like "Facebook." Gary Nitzkin, a credit collection lawyer with his own firm, weighs in on the situation. "On the surface of it, I can tell you that there is nothing illegal about it." On the surface indeed. However, Nitzkin and his collectors actually take a step further, "friending" the debtor on whatever social website. After they have made friends with the debtor, they then speak with other friends and find out what the debtor is doing, obtaining the scoop on their financial situation, and determining if there are any new assets that can be taken.
The FDCPA was written in 1978, before social media existed, so there are no specific guidelines monitoring contact that might be made over the internet. However, the FDCPA strictly prohibits collectors from doing or saying anything that is false or misleading. First of all, debt collectors are not permitted to contact third parties regarding a debtor's financial situation. And perhaps most importantly, debt collectors abiding by the FDCPA must speak only to the debtor about the debt, and they have to verify that they are in fact speaking to the correct individual. Then after that, they must issue a "mini-miranda" letting the debtor know that this contact is an attempt to collect debt and anything said can be used for collection purposes. Nitzkin's practices are "grey area" at best, shady at worst.
If anything, this borderline abuse of media illuminates one of the major problems of debt collection today, that the FDCPA badly needs to be updated. Debtors and debt collectors alike take issue with the law. Debtors believe that the monetary damages that the FDCPA award in lawsuits should be increased due to inflation over the years, debt collectors complain that there are no provisions regarding cell phone calls in a country where only forty percent of its citizens own a landline. With technology advancing at a faster and faster rate, it is my prediction that the FDCPA won't be the only law that finds itself needing a big update.
by: Mallory Megan
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