Debt Collectors To Send Unlimited Texts And Emails, Less Calls

The Trump administration is seeking to update federal debt-collection rules for the first time in more
than 40 years. Under the new regulations, debt collectors will be able to send an unlimited number of text messages and emails to delinquent borrowers; the number of calls they can make per week, however, will be decreased.

The rules, proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are an update to the 1977 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which protects debtors from abusive and unfair practices by third-party debt collectors. The FDCPA, for instance, prohibits debt collectors from calling people before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m.; and restricts collectors from calling “repeatedly or continuously” with an intent to annoy or harass. But the exact number of calls has, until now, not been specified.

Having been written in the 1970s, the FDCPA was enacted before the ubiquity of mobile phones, email and social media.

Under the new rules:

-debt collectors will only be able to call a debtor up to seven times per week. If they manage to speak to the borrower, they will have to refrain from calling back for at least seven days.

-Debt collectors will explicitly also be allowed to contact borrowers via text message and email.

-Collectors cannot engage in harassment.

-Consumers will have the ability to opt-out of these communications, but no cap has been set on the number of texts or emails
that can be sent.

-Debt collectors CAN NOT use public-facing social media platforms to collect a debt, like Facebook or Twitter.