QUESTION
Can a collecion agency legally call my neighbors to give me a message when they have nothing to do with my loan?
Asked on Aug 11th, 2011 on Collections - Illinois
More details to this question:
I live in Illinois, and we are late on our house payment, and the bank is now calling our neighbors to send us messages..is this legal? I wouldn¿t think this can be if my neighbor has nothing to do with us or our loan, it¿s not like there phone number is on our loan or anything. I guess they just looked up the address and seen they were beside us. Is there anything i can do about this?
1 ANSWER
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA") a collection agency is allowed to contact a third party to try and find you; however, the FDCPA only allows them to contact each third party ONE TIME. If the collection agency contacts anybody other than you more than one time they are violating federal law and need to pay you damages. Also, the FDCPA prohibits a collection agency from disclosing to anyone that you owe a debt, that they are a debt collector, and any other information that implies you owe a debt. IF a collection agency violates the FDCPA, it is liable for up to $1,000 in statutory damages, actual damages caused by the violation (including humiliation and embarrassment), as well as your reasonable attorney fees and costs associated with making a claim.
If the collection agency has violated the FDCPA or done anything you don't think is right, contact a local FDCPA attorney.
Answered on Nov 14th, 2011 at 11:08 AM