Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Can Debt Collectors Contact You via Social Media?

The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) was designed in 1978 to protect consumers in debt collection practices.  Although the Act was written before Facebook and social media became the powerhouse it is today, it is still applicable to collection practices conducted through these methods.
 
According to Michelle Dunn, an author and 24-year veteran of the debt-collection industry, many collectors do try to set up a fake profile and ‘friend’ someone in order to find out more information that is relevant to their debt collection, such as employment, cell phone number, etc.  However, this practice is illegal in many states and Dunn discourages it because it involves impersonation.
 
The FDCPA doesn't explicitly forbid collectors from posting on your Facebook wall or Tweeting your relatives and friends to ask about where you are. However, when your privacy is violated, there are federal statutes that are broken, and the FDCPA does explicitly protect you from breech of privacy.
 
If you don’t want your social media information to be used by creditors, experts suggest the following steps to take:

1. Don’t avoid creditors.  If you don’t want to be contacted via mail or phone about the debt, simply return a letter to your creditor stating that you no longer wish to be contacted via a certain method.  They will be forced to comply, although they will be more inclined to sue at that point to recover the debt.
 
2. Use your privacy settings. Some people have their Facebook profiles set to completely public, allowing anyone who wants to access your profile full ability to do so.  If you are concerned about privacy and about creditors finding out information, then set your profile to completely private.
 
3. Avoid posting disclosing information about your job or cell phone number.  If you owe money and don’t want to be called by collectors, don’t allow this information to be public on your Facebook profile.  

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