Can a debt collector call my job?
Yes, until the collector knows or has reason to know that your employer does not allow the calls. Once you tell it, further calls to your workplace violate the FDCPA. Separately, a collector may not tell your boss or coworkers that you owe a debt, and it may not threaten to take your wages unless it can lawfully do so and intends to.
Few things feel worse than a collector calling the front desk and asking for you by name. The good news: you can stop the work calls with one sentence, and the collector is never allowed to tell your employer why it is calling.
The rule on calls at work
Without your consent, a debt collector may not communicate with you at your place of employment if it knows or has reason to know that your employer prohibits you from receiving such communications (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(3); 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(b)(3)).
Notice the trigger. The law does not ban work calls outright. It bans them once the collector knows. That puts the power in your hands: tell the collector, and the next call to your job is a violation.
The same statute also bars contact at any time or place the collector knows or should know is inconvenient to you (§ 1692c(a)(1)). If you work nights and sleep during the day, you can say that too.
The one sentence: "My employer does not allow me to take these calls at work. Do not call me at work." Say it on the phone, then put it in a letter.
The letter can be three lines long. Your name and the collector's account number. A sentence that your employer does not allow you to receive these communications at work, and that the collector must not contact you there. A sentence giving the address or number where it may contact you instead, or saying it should contact you only in writing. Sign it, date it, send it by certified mail with a return receipt, and keep a copy. The receipt fixes the date the collector knew, and every work call after that date is a separate event you can document.
What the collector can never say to your boss
A collector may contact someone other than you only to find your location: your home address, home phone number and place of employment. When it does, it must not say that you owe a debt, may not contact that person more than once in most cases, and may not name its company unless asked (15 U.S.C. § 1692b).
Beyond location calls, a collector may not discuss your debt with anyone other than you, your lawyer, a credit bureau, the creditor and their lawyers, without your direct consent or a court's permission (§ 1692c(b)). Your manager, the receptionist and your coworkers are not on that list.
If a collector already knows where you work, it has no reason to call your employer for location information at all. Our calls to family and employer page covers these third-party rules in full.
Work email and garnishment threats
Work email. Regulation F bars a collector from sending email to an address it knows or should know your employer provided, unless an exception applies, such as you having used that address to write to the collector yourself (12 C.F.R. § 1006.22(f)(3)). If a collector is emailing your work account, do not reply from it.
"We will garnish your wages." This is a common line, and often an empty one. The FDCPA forbids a collector from saying nonpayment will result in garnishment of wages unless that action is lawful and the collector intends to take it (§ 1692e(4)), and from threatening any action it cannot legally take or does not intend to take (§ 1692e(5)). In New York, an income execution issues against a judgment debtor (CPLR 5231), so a creditor has to sue and win first. A collector that has not sued you cannot garnish your pay next Friday. See threats to sue.
If you are sued, do not ignore the papers: the time to answer is short. See sued by a debt collector.
In New York, New Jersey and Florida
New York. General Business Law § 601(4) bars a creditor or its agent from communicating, or threatening to communicate, the nature of a consumer claim to your employer before a judgment. Section 601 is enforced by the Attorney General and district attorneys; consumers usually sue under GBL § 349, which lets the court award attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff. See New York.
Florida. The FCCPA, which reaches original creditors as well as collectors, bars contacting your employer before final judgment unless you gave written permission or acknowledged the debt in writing after it was placed for collection (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(4)). See Florida.
New Jersey. The federal rules apply; see New Jersey.
Under the FDCPA, a collector found liable owes actual damages plus statutory damages of up to $1,000, and the FDCPA requires it to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The claim must be filed within one year of the violation. The calls at work page has the full rule.
What to do this week
- Tell the collector, then write it. A short letter: your employer does not allow these calls; do not contact you at work. Certified mail, keep a copy.
- Ask the front desk to note any call that asks for you by name and mentions a company you do not know. Date, time, what was said.
- Log every call to your work and cell numbers in the call log.
- Save any voicemail or email that mentions garnishment, and check whether the collector has actually sued you.
Sources: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692b, 1692c, 1692e, 1692k; 12 C.F.R. §§ 1006.6(b)(3), 1006.22(f)(3); N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §§ 601, 349(h); N.Y. CPLR 5231; Fla. Stat. § 559.72(4).
Common questions
Do I need proof of my employer's policy?
No. The rule turns on what the collector knows or has reason to know. Telling the collector that your employer does not allow personal calls about this is enough. Put it in writing so you can prove when it knew.
Can a collector email my work address?
Generally not. Regulation F bars a collector from emailing an address it knows or should know your employer provided, with narrow exceptions, such as when you used that address to write to the collector yourself.
Can the collector garnish my wages without going to court?
Not on an ordinary consumer debt in New York. An income execution issues against a judgment debtor, which means the creditor must first win a judgment. A collector that threatens garnishment it cannot lawfully take, or does not intend to take, violates section 1692e(4) and (5).
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.