The New York Times recently published an article about debt collectors who resort to using pseudonyms when calling debtors. They justify this behavior because they claim the debtors their agents call routinely threaten them with violence. The Times did manage to point out that the Federal Trade Commission reported that the number of complaints against debt collectors grew 17 percent over 2009, up to 140,036 complaints. How collection agencies can claim that these are just “exceptions” is baffling.
The caption to the article’s photo, though, pointed out that collectors have started using pseudonyms to avoid abuse. Is this legitimate? Possibly not, according to Adam Levitan of Credit Slips. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act of 1977 (FDCPA) forbids collectors from making any “false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt … including … The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attmpet to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a debtor.” Pretty broad language. Levitan fears using a pseudonym emboldens collectors, though requesting them to stop is unenforceable.
Though it seems reasonable to protect collectors’ agents from legitimate threats of violence against them, Jeff Sovern of Public Citizen argues that collection agencies have their agents use pseudonyms to protect them from FDCPA complaints. Once a complaint is filed, the debt collectors merely say that the individual left the company or was terminated when in fact, it merely changed the individual’s working identity. This is most certainly illegal. The penalty for breaking the FDCPA is $1,000 per violation, unchanged from when the law was passed in 1977. Changing an agent’s name saves the company money in paying fines, even though $1,000 isn’t a whole lot of money for them when compared with the costs of searching for more sensitive employees and training them.
How does this apply to New Yorkers who are getting harassing calls from debt collectors? First of all, if a collector claims he or she is a government official, that is an FDCPA violation. Beyond that, though, it will be hard to know who a collection agent really is merely by asking for his or her name.
Ask for their name anyway. Ask for a name and any kind of worker identification number. If the agent is insulting or threatening—such as the one who, according to the Times, cost a collection company $1.5 million because he “left voicemail messages using vulgarities and racial slurs”—then gather as much information as you can and bring it to your New York bankruptcy lawyer. Your lawyer can subpoena the collectors’ records to ensure that the right agent is held responsible.
For answers to more bankruptcy questions, please feel free to contact experienced fair debt collection practices act Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.
