debtor rights

Debt collectors accused of illegal harassment using Facebook

Debt can pile up for any number of different reasons. Individuals may fall into a patch of financial difficulty after running into an unexpected expense or suddenly finding themselves out of work. Small business owners may find themselves in debt after making a high-cost investment in their trade or losing customers to a competitor.

When a person’s outstanding bills exceed their available assets, they risk accumulating a large amount of credit card debt or finding themselves in need of bankruptcy protection. In these cases, debt collectors are charged with the job of making sure that individuals with outstanding debt make their payments. Recently, however, US debt collectors are receiving a lot of negative attention from the media regarding their hostile and underhanded methods of forcing people to pay.

According to some reports received by organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau, debt collections agencies are authorizing their employees to use collection tactics which many people believe border on harassment. Individuals have reported instances in which collectors contacted them through the social media website Facebook, leaving public and humiliating messages on their wall.

Representatives from the Federal Trade Commission have also heard of instances in which collectors assumed a fake identity on Facebook in order to collect a debt. Since the social media site allows users to choose who can see their personal information or post messages to their page, collectors have allegedly pretended to be an individual’s friend in order to gain access to their account.

Posting information about an outstanding debt in a public place is prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Many consumers are wondering how and when the government will take action to stop debt collectors from using illegal strong-arm tactics.

Source: MSNBC, “Debt collectors trolling Facebook.” Herb Weisbaum, 3 May 2011

Determining your Personal Debt Relief Options with a Colorado Bankruptcy Attorney

When the stress of personal debt begins to build and monthly bills become difficult or impossible to keep up with, filing a personal bankruptcy may seem like the most obvious choice for your debt relief. While you may have a basic understanding of how bankruptcy protection can help you to reduce or eliminate your financial stress, determining which bankruptcy would most effectively suit your situation can be fairly difficult to determine.

You may come to find, following a bit of research, that you’ve got more than one option available to help you resolve your consumer debt. At this point it becomes critical that you choose the path that will be most suitable for your individual level of debt in order to gain control of your finances again in as little time and with as few headaches as possible.

Finding the most appropriate path of personal debt relief is much easier if you enlist the help of an experienced Colorado bankruptcy attorney as early on as possible. A Colorado bankruptcy attorney will quickly be able to determine what courses of action are available to someone in your financial situation and outline the specific details of each individual option.

By enlisting the help of a Colorado bankruptcy attorney you can feel confident that you’ll be embarking on the most logical and easiest course of action in order to relieve your personal debt and that you’ll be on your way to living free of the burden of your consumer debt in as little time as possible.

Debt Collector Uses Facebook to Go Too Far

Debt collectors must follow certain rules set out by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that protects debtors from being harassed by debt collectors. The rules restrict the time of day which a collector may call, they restrict how information can be obtained, who can be contacted, what information can be shared, what information must remain confidential and much more. One of the rules prevents a collector from contacting third parties to confirm someone’s location once it is already known to the collector.

One woman said that a debt collector went too far when he began using her Facebook profile to collect on her $362 unpaid car loan. The woman claimed that she had been working cooperatively with the collection agency to come up with an effective payment plan, but that the specific agent went beyond “fair debt collection” when he began sending her messages on Facebook and contacting her listed friends and family. The woman filed suit in August and updated the papers on November 18, 2010 against the debt collection agency alleging violations of consumer protection law.

“I was shocked when I found out these collectors used Facebook to contact my family because they knew exactly where I was. I’m angry they caused me so much embarrassment with my family,” she told Associated Press reporters last week when they contacted her about her situation. She was sickened by the actions that one agent took to allegedly harass her into paying on the car loan.

The company admitted to using Facebook to locate debtors when they could not be contacted through other means. However, bankruptcy attorneys have reported rising complaints of harassment through social media networks including collectors who have created false profiles of “women in bikinis” asking to be “friends.”

Source: OrlandoSentinel.com “Woman sues debt collector over Facebook messages” Tamara Lush 11/18/10