Why Debt Collectors Will Soon Be Able to Text You
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to usher in the technology era with a proposal to change the rules for debt collectors. While it’s great that they flesh out do’s and don’ts, you almost certainly won’t like all the changes.
Good changes
Limited phone calls
The collector may call you seven times a week about an outstanding debt; if you do pick up the phone and talk to them, they won’t be able to call you for another week. Right now, if they want, they can call you every day. Every day!
Clear documentation
The rule requires collectors to provide a detailed invoice along with a manual in plain language to explain your rights and how you can dispute the invoice.
Additional legal protection is a kind of
The rule change will prevent debt collectors from reporting your debt to a credit reporting agency before reporting your overdue debt to you.
CFPB also plans to prevent collectors sue you to recover the debt with expired limitation period : an unpaid bill, which has existed for several years, during which it can be obtained (usually from three to 10 years). However, while the right to file a lawsuit will go away, collectors will still be able to collect these “zombie” debts .
This is where it gets really bad
The new rule makes it clear that debt collectors can contact you via email and text message.
The original Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was drafted in 1977, a serene time before the advent of email, text messages, cell phones and the Internet. This does not prevent debt collectors from using text messages or email to pester you about your overdue bills, because there is no wording about these then mostly imaginary methods of communication.
“The FDCPA turned directly to the use of postcards, calls and telegrams, ” Bureau Chief Kathleen Kreininger said at an event at City Hall to celebrate today’s change. It is in the interest of convenience to allow people to communicate via text messages and email rather than relying on phone calls from debt collectors, Kroeninger said.
But you yourself can give up communication methods that you don’t need. The new rule plans to set limits to prevent harassment and make it easier for you to customize your communication preferences, but don’t expect to receive a form in the mail to choose how you want to stay in touch with the debt collectors. They will likely start writing text messages and emails and wait for you to use the “unsubscribe” option, which Kroeninger says will be present in all emails and text messages.
“This reform may require consumers to agree, not refuse,” Melissa Stegman, senior policy adviser at the Center for Responsible Lending, said in a press release . The National Center for Consumer Law is also concerned. “And the proposed rule allows for critical email notifications to be sent to consumers who may not have regular access to the Internet,” Margot Saunders, the organization’s attorney, said in a statement . “Cell phones, which are used by many low-income consumers, do not provide access to e-mail or the large amount of data that wealthier people use.”
The CFPB has found itself on this slippery slope with virtually no help for consumers since President Trump took control of everything we once loved. CFPB destroyed plans for fiduciary rule . This rolled back the ability to repay the loan claims . I wasn’t sure there would be enough donuts for the whole class.
I’m not even sad anymore; I’m just disappointed.
How to deal with the proposal
The debt collection proposal is open for public comment , and once completed, it will take a year for the rules to take effect.
But can we talk about the comment posting process while we’re here? It’s kind of like a bunk.
The CFPB is providing this notice with its list of issues for which a comment period is open.
But when you click on an issue you are interested in, there are no easy instructions on how to actually post a comment. There is only one open comment option that directs you outside of the site to a formal comment form . Otherwise, you are on your own if you have strong feelings that you want to share with the CFPB. (I chose the endless echoing void of the Internet.)
Until then, stick to the current rules of dear life.
At the moment, the existing rules for debt collectors are still in force :
- They cannot call you before 8 am or after 9 pm.
- They cannot call you at work at your request.
- They cannot bother you, threaten you, or tell other people about your debt.
- They will not be able to contact you if you ask them to stop in writing.