Know your rights when debt collectors text you

According to the National Consumer Law Center, about 70 million Americans have a bill in collection at any given time, with about a fourth of those having more than one debt being collected. A new rule finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will soon allow debt collectors to begin contacting you not just by phone, but also by email, text message, and through social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Under the new rule, they will be allowed to call you up to seven times per week and send an unlimited number of texts, email messages and social media private posts. If you have two or three debt collectors trying to reach you, that doubles or triples the contacts you may receive.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to record unemployment and an economic downturn that has left many straining to pay bills and forced to borrow money to buy food and pay rent and utilities.

One problem with the new rule is that it doesn’t require debt collectors to verify that they have the right person or that the debt is still legally owed before contacting you.

Some debt collectors have been known to file lawsuits to collect debts that were already paid or were never owed.

Consumer Reports recommends these steps to protect yourself when debt collectors contact you:

• Request verification of the debt, especially if you don’t recognize the amount or the creditor’s name or if the debt is more than a few years old. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act of 1977 gives you the right to ask for the name of the original creditor and a detailed account of how it calculated the total amount it claims you owe.
• Don’t immediately offer to pay old debts. Your state may have a statute of limitations regarding how long a debt can remain active and be collected. The time is usually between three and six years. But once you make a payment on an expired debt, you “revive” it and the clock restarts on how long they can try to collect from you.
• Keep your personal information private. No matter how frequent or intimidating the calls, don’t give any sensitive information, such as your birth date, Social Security number, bank account numbers or credit card numbers unless you have verified the debt and are setting up a payment plan with a legitimate collection agency or creditor.
• Get a copy of your credit report. If you were the victim of identity theft, it will show any accounts opened or loans taken out fraudulently in your name. There may also be accidental errors, such as debts owed by someone else with the same or similar name as yours or debts you’ve paid off that are still reported as unpaid.
• Negotiate for a lower repayment amount. If you can’t pay in full, but can pay a percentage of what you owe, ask if the collection agency will take a lower amount to settle the debt.
• Set up automated payments with a realistic payment plan. Check to see if you need to periodically renew the automatic payments so you don’t accidently miss a payment.

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