In May I wrote about how debt collectors were adopting new technologies to target borrowers, specifically noting a new technique called, “ringless voice mails.” The New York Times recently ran a full article on the topic, and along with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that debt buyers are exempt from the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), the topic deserves revisiting.
A “ringless voice mail” is a message from a debt collector or telemarketer that skips rings on the recipient’s phone and simply directly leaves a message. The technology behind ringless voice mail enables callers to send up to one hundred messages in one minute. Consumers cannot block ringless voice mails like normal calls, so there is no way to prevent debt collectors from using the technology to overwhelm debtors. Moreover, ringless voice mails may even be exempt from the federal government’s “Do Not Call” list that bans businesses from contacting consumers.
The most prominent laws designed to protect consumers from debt collectors and telemarketers, the FDCPA and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), both date from the time when people had just land lines and maybe answering machines. Unsurprisingly, then, the businesses using ringless voice mails argue that the laws don’t apply to their practices. Meanwhile, consumer advocates claim that a blanket regulatory exemption for ringless voice mails would lead to waves of automated messages overloading peoples’ mailboxes, making it impossible to distinguish unwanted calls from important messages.
Currently, one telemarketing company is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a waiver from the TCPA, which among other things blocks calls made by auto dialers. It argues that the calls are not disruptive the way auto-dialed calls were a few decades ago. Consumers can choose to listen to them at times that are convenient for them, and especially in the case of cell phones, they can switch their devices to airplane mode or turn them off entirely.
The New York Times article is here.
The government has already determined that mass text messages violate these consumer laws, so consumers have some hope of an advantageous ruling. However, an adverse ruling would give substantial leeway to debt collectors. As with the bad debt buyers who were untethered from the FDCPA by the U.S. Supreme Court, if debt collectors are harassing you, then consulting with an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer can help you assess your options.
For answers to more questions about bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced Brooklyn bankruptcy attorney Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.
