Debt collector calling about someone else
A collector trying to reach someone else may contact you only to get that person's home address, phone number or workplace. It must say it is confirming location information, it may not say the person owes a debt, and it generally may not call you again once you have answered. If the calls are prerecorded or autodialed to your cell, you never consented, and the TCPA may apply. The FDCPA protects you even though the debt is not yours.
The caller asks for a name you do not know. Or a name you know too well: a former tenant, an ex, a brother. You explain. The next week they call again. And again. It is not your debt, so it can feel like the law is not on your side. It is.
What a collector may do when it calls you about someone else
Section 1692b is the rulebook for calls to people who are not the debtor. A collector contacting you to find someone may only seek location information: the person's home, home phone number or place of employment (15 U.S.C. §§ 1692a(7), 1692b). When it does, it must:
- Identify itself and say it is confirming or correcting location information. It names its employer only if you expressly ask.
- Not say the person owes a debt. No mention of the debt at all.
- Contact you only once, unless you ask it to call back, or it reasonably believes your earlier answer was wrong or incomplete and that you now have better information.
- Not use postcards, or envelopes showing it is in the debt collection business.
Notice what is missing from that list. The collector may not ask you to pass on a message about a debt, may not ask you to pay, and may not keep checking back. Once you have answered, the purpose of the call is used up.
Beyond location contacts, a collector may not discuss a consumer's debt with third parties without the consumer's consent (§ 1692c(b)).
Your own rights, even though the debt is not yours
The FDCPA's harassment ban protects "any person," not only the debtor. Repeated calls with intent to annoy, abuse or harass any person at the called number, and calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller's identity, are violations (15 U.S.C. § 1692d(5), (6)). A collector that violates the Act "with respect to any person is liable to such person" (§ 1692k(a)).
Regulation F adds that a collector must not communicate through a medium a person has asked it not to use (12 C.F.R. § 1006.14(h)(1)).
Robocalls to your cell. The TCPA bars calls to a cell phone with an autodialer or a prerecorded voice without "the prior express consent of the called party" (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii)). If you are the one being called, the debtor's consent on a loan form was not yours. The TCPA sets $500 per violation, up to $1,500 if willful or knowing, with no fee-shifting clause (§ 227(b)(3)). See robocalls and texts.
When the collector says the debt is yours
Sometimes the call is not about a stranger. The collector uses your name, but the account belongs to someone with a similar name, or to someone who used your identity. That is a different problem.
Dispute in writing within 30 days of the collector's validation notice; the collector must then stop collecting until it mails verification (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)). Then check your credit reports. If an account there is not yours, see someone else's debt on my credit report and, for fraud, the identity theft report, step by step. If the collector sues you on someone else's debt, do not ignore the papers; the answer deadline is short. See sued by a debt collector.
In New York, New Jersey and Florida
The FDCPA provides actual damages plus statutory damages of up to $1,000, and requires a collector found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. File within one year of the violation (15 U.S.C. § 1692k). In New York, a deceptive practice can also support a claim under N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349(h). Florida's FCCPA reaches any person collecting a consumer debt, including original creditors, and bars disclosing information affecting a debtor's reputation to people without a legitimate business need (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(5)). See the New York, New Jersey and Florida pages. If the calls are to your parents or employer about your own debt, read a debt collector called my mother.
What to do this week
- Answer once, clearly. "This is not my debt. That person cannot be reached here. Do not call this number again."
- Write down the company name, the caller's name and the number that called.
- Put it in writing. A short letter or email asking the collector to stop contacting you creates a record. The letter builder can help.
- Log every call after that in the call log. Each one after your answer matters.
- Save prerecorded voicemails. They matter under the TCPA.
Sources: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692a(7), 1692b, 1692c(b), (d), 1692d, 1692g, 1692k; 12 C.F.R. § 1006.14(h); 47 U.S.C. § 227(b); N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349(h); Fla. Stat. § 559.72(5).
Common questions
Can I sue if the debt is not mine?
Possibly. The FDCPA makes a collector that violates the Act with respect to any person liable to that person. Its harassment rules protect any person, and its rules on third-party contacts limit what a collector may do and say to you.
The collector says the person gave my number. Does that matter?
For the FDCPA, the limits on third-party contacts apply regardless. For robocalls to a cell phone, the TCPA requires the prior express consent of the called party. Someone else cannot give that consent for you.
What if the collector is calling about a relative who died?
For the FDCPA's contact rules, the consumer includes a spouse, a guardian, and an executor or administrator. A collector may talk with the person handling the estate. Who, if anyone, has to pay depends on the estate and the facts; talk to a lawyer before paying.
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.