Calls to your family, friends and employer
A debt collector may contact other people only to find out where you live and how to reach you, and even then it may not tell them you owe a debt. Telling your mother, your neighbor or your boss about the debt, without your consent, violates the FDCPA. The rules are narrower for your spouse, whom the law treats as standing in your shoes.
No, a debt collector may not tell the people in your life about your debt. The FDCPA lets a collector contact a third person for one purpose: to find out where you live and how to reach you. It must not say you owe anything, it must not keep calling the same person, and it must not use envelopes or messages that give the debt away.
These are some of the clearest rules in the Act, and a single call to your employer or your mother that mentions the debt can be enough.
What it looks like
- "Tell her she owes us." A collector tells your parent, adult child or roommate that you have an unpaid debt.
- Calls to your boss. A collector calls your supervisor or HR and mentions an account or a balance.
- The same neighbor, again and again. Repeated calls to a person who already told them what they know, or that they do not know you.
- Revealing messages. A voicemail left on a shared line, or a message with a coworker, that names a collection agency or a debt.
- Post cards and marked envelopes. Mail to a third party with collection language on the outside.
- Public social media posts. Comments or posts about the debt visible to your friends or the public.
The law
The general rule is 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b). Without your prior consent given directly to the collector, a court's permission, or as reasonably necessary to carry out a post-judgment remedy, a debt collector may not communicate about the debt with anyone other than you, your attorney, a credit reporting agency if otherwise permitted, the creditor, the creditor's attorney, or the collector's attorney.
The exception is location information under § 1692b. A collector seeking to learn where you live and your phone number may contact a third person, but it must:
- identify itself, say it is confirming or correcting location information, and name its employer only if expressly asked (§ 1692b(1));
- not state that you owe any debt (§ 1692b(2));
- not contact that person more than once, unless asked to, or unless it reasonably believes the earlier answer was wrong or incomplete and the person now has better information (§ 1692b(3));
- not use a post card, or any language or symbol on an envelope or in a letter that shows it is a debt collector or that the communication is about a debt (§ 1692b(4), (5));
- once it knows you have a lawyer for the debt, communicate only with the lawyer (§ 1692b(6)).
For these rules the word "consumer" includes your spouse, the parent of a minor, a guardian, an executor or an administrator (§ 1692c(d)). A collector may discuss the debt with your spouse. It may not discuss it with your adult children, siblings, friends, neighbors or employer.
Social media has its own rule: a collector may not communicate through a social media platform if the message is viewable by the general public or your social media contacts (12 C.F.R. § 1006.22(f)(4)).
What you have to show
That a debt collector, collecting a consumer debt, communicated with a third person beyond what § 1692b allows. The third person's account is the evidence, so ask the person to write down the date, time, number and exactly what the caller said, while it is fresh.
What you can recover
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a), a collector that violates the FDCPA is liable for your actual damages, including harm from the disclosure, plus additional statutory damages of up to $1,000 per lawsuit. The FDCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
In Florida the FCCPA provides actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000 and punitive damages in the court's discretion (Fla. Stat. § 559.77(2)). In New York, GBL 349 provides actual damages or $50, whichever is greater, increased up to three times actual damages capped at $1,000 for a willful or knowing violation. This site does not estimate what a case is worth.
What to do now
- Get a written account from the person called. Date, time, the number that called, the name the caller used, and the words said about you or a debt.
- Ask them to save voicemails and call logs. A screenshot from their phone is strong evidence.
- Keep any envelope or post card. The outside of the mail is the violation under § 1692b(4) and (5).
- Screenshot social media. Capture the post, the account that made it, the date, and who could see it.
- Log your own calls too. Third-party calls often come with too many calls to you. Use the call log.
The clock
| Claim | Time to sue | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| FDCPA | 1 year from each disclosure | 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d) |
| Florida FCCPA | 2 years from the violation | Fla. Stat. § 559.77(4) |
| New York GBL 349 | 3 years | N.Y. CPLR 214(2) |
In New York, New Jersey and Florida
New York. GBL 601(4) bars communicating or threatening to communicate the nature of a consumer claim to the debtor's employer before judgment, apart from a narrow wage-assignment case. Consumers usually sue through GBL 349, which lets the court award a prevailing consumer reasonable attorney's fees. See the New York page.
New Jersey. The federal third-party rules apply in full. See the New Jersey page.
Florida. The FCCPA bars disclosing to anyone other than the debtor or the debtor's family information affecting the debtor's reputation, with knowledge or reason to know the person has no legitimate business need for it or that it is false (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(5)). It bars contacting a debtor's employer before final judgment without written permission or a written acknowledgment of the debt (§ 559.72(4)), and harassing the debtor's family (§ 559.72(7)). These rules reach original creditors too, and the FCCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. See the Florida page.
Common questions
Can a debt collector talk to my spouse about my debt?
Yes. For the rules on who a collector may communicate with, the FDCPA defines consumer to include the consumer's spouse, so a collector may discuss the debt with your spouse. The time, place and harassment rules still apply to those calls.
The collector called my sister and asked her to have me call back. Is that illegal?
Asking a relative for your address or phone number is allowed once. Saying or implying that you owe a debt is not, and neither is calling the same relative again and again unless she asked them to or they reasonably think her first answer was wrong. A message that names the collection agency can also reveal the debt.
Can a collector post about my debt on my Facebook page?
No. Regulation F bars a collector from communicating through a social media platform in a way that is viewable by the general public or your social media contacts. See the texts, emails and social media page.
Can the collector tell my employer after it gets a judgment?
The FDCPA allows communications reasonably necessary to carry out a post-judgment remedy, such as a wage garnishment order delivered to your employer. What it does not allow is contacting your employer about the debt before then, beyond a location inquiry that does not mention the debt.
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.