Debt Collection Violations, Calling at Odd Hours or Inconvenient Times

Couple receiving bad news over phone
Couple receiving late hour call in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Consumers receiving calls at inappropriate times may be entitled to compensation.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been investigating abuses.

Communicating with consumers at a time known to be inconvenient
Under section 805(a)(1) of the FDCPA, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. Examiners discovered  that consumers were contacted by one or more entities outside of the hours of 8:00 am to 9:00 pm (which, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, may be assumed to be convenient) or at times consumers had previously informed the entities were inconvenient. These violations were caused by the failure to accurately update account notes and the use of auto dialers that based call parameters solely on the consumer’s area code, rather than also considering the consumer’s last known address. Supervision directed one or more entities to enhance compliance monitoring for dialer systems to ensure that they input system parameters accurately and to ensure that they properly monitor collectors for inputting and adhering to account notations.https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/201709_cfpb_Supervisory-Highlights_Issue-16.pdf

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