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Debt Collectors Using Facebook To Embarrass Those Who Owe
Not even the tranquility of FarmVille can save you from the long arm of debt collectors. Melanie Beacham says that a collector from MarkOne Financial contacted her relatives about her past due car note via Facebook. She is filing suit alleging that the company is harassing her family. Tampa based consumer attorney Billy Howard of Morgan & Morgan says, "Now Facebook does a debt collectors work for them. Now it's not only family members, it's all of your associates. It's a very powerful tool for debt collectors to use."
A. Pay your debts
B. Go to your account settings in Facebook so that people can't mine all this information about you. Pass this tip along to your family and friends.
The article says it is the company that financed the car, which would make them the primary debt holder and not a collections agency. Read the Wiki you linked: "While the FDCPA generally applies only to third party debt collectors—not internal collectors for an "original creditor"
Yes, I agree with you, I believe that activity is clearly against the Federal laws and regulations regarding debt collection. (ianal) As to your situation, it's not necessarily over, check the statute of limitation on debts in your state. Then tend to range from 5-8 years, and it's possible that the collector was already past that point and is still trying to collect.
As to the (un-named) third party you contacted, for as far as I know, it could have been the collectors brother-in-law. Don't go by the statements of a third party the collector sends you to, contact an official state agency or a legal representative that deals with these types of issues.
Unfortunately there are a very large number of unscrupulous debt collectors out there that depend on your timidity and ignorance. Few people fight, and fewer people have any idea what their rights are, much less the restrictions the debt collectors are supposed to work under.
In the US you can't be directly incarcerated for debt; you can, however, be incarcerated for refusing to obey a court order that you pay the debt, which courts don't usually order unless the judge is convinced you have the money.
Having been the subject of a mysterious $180 debt collection put on my credit report over six years after they allege it happened...
..they told me to log onto some third party site and contest it. I did. Three weeks later I got a judgment: REMAINS. I was informed that, short of litigious action, that was the extent of my rights in that situation.
As someone who has dealt with a poor credit history and worked very hard to improve not only legitimate but also illegitimate records on my credit report I have to seriously question this point. First, third-party site? There are only three (3) major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. All of these have very straight forward disputing processes online - simply log in (pay or go to www.annualcreditreport.com to view all three free once per year as recently required by the U.S. government) and if there are inaccuracies, false or misleading information attached simply click the dispute button. Pretty simple.
The bureau will conduct an investigation. Credit bureaus are required by law to remove any unverifiable information. Just because someone says you owe money doesn't mean they can prove it. I have personally had both valid and non-valid negatives removed from my report repeatedly. Just keep disputing and work with the bureau to get things removed. If you can't, then is stands to reason you are in the wrong and the creditor posting does have verifiable info. At which point you're pretty much SOL - can't complain much about a debt you owe and don't like.
As for litigious action... I find it unlikely this would be required since the credit bureaus are legally bound to verify and correct misinformation - if they don't they're on the hook. Fixing your credit isn't rocket science. Just be proactive and don't ignore it cause that solves dick in my ten-year experience of dealing with my own credit issues.
There's a couple cents to anyone interested.
"Read the Wiki you linked: "While the FDCPA generally applies only to third party debt collectors—not internal collectors for an "original creditor""
True, but there's limitations: for example, if someone owes me money I can't run commercials or billboards with their name, picture and address saying "JOHN DOE OWES ME $200 DOLLARS!". There are limitations, and I think posting information or contacting someone's friends and family on Facebook would be considered one of those limitations.
After all, don't all of those collector calls begin with "This is a personal business matter for YOUR NAME..." If they were not legally required to have that message I'm pretty sure the voicemail would be "JOHN DOE YOU OWE FORD $200! PAY US OR WE TAKE YOUR CAR!"
I just read that it is illegal for voicemails to say it is a personal business matter, they must state that the call is an attempt to collect a debt.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
A collection agency is an "agent" working for the creditor. If they buy the debt, they are the new creditor, and can elect to be their own debt collector, but they are not the debt collection agency. These terms are defined by law, not the companies themselves.
Further, your "pay your bills on time" doesn't stop people getting into these situations. I have had scrapes with thee companies because of a person with the same name and different SSN - they have employed these dirty tactics against people with the same name living in nearby towns - even going to far as to file false paperwork to get judgments.
That law also applies to original creditors now. I'm no expert, but I did recently take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class and he had a lesson on how to deal with debt collectors. They can contact relatives, but they can't mention that they are debt collectors, only that they wish to get in touch with you. I'm pretty sure she would have a legal basis for suing them.
That law also applies to original creditors now. I'm no expert, but I did recently take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class and he had a lesson on how to deal with debt collectors. They can contact relatives, but they can't mention that they are debt collectors, only that they wish to get in touch with you. I'm pretty sure she would have a legal basis for suing them.
No, the FDCPA does not apply to original creditors. Here is the link to the FTC's page where you can read the whole act: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm I don't know who Dave is, and if he's taught you about collectors then he's correct but he's mistaken if he told you the FDCPA applies to creditors. Maybe he is thinking of some other piece of legislation or you misheard.