In Time, You Might Just Get A Text From Your Bill Collector

In Time, You Might Just Get A Text From Your Bill Collector

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Who does not enjoy a good text message? Fast, painless and no speaking on the phone to that annoying person you have to get in touch with! There is no arguing with the fact that texting is becoming a major conduit for the exchange of information. It is no wonder that there were practically 750 billion text messages sent in the United States last year, nearly twice the amount of text messages sent in 2008.

As far as debt collection goes, debt collectors have stayed outside of the cellular realm up until now. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was a landmark federal law that took effect in 1978 and has set up strict guidelines about how debt collectors can call and when. Because this act is even older than the stereotypical "Saved By The Bell" cell phones from the early 90s, it just might be time to make some major adjustments to this antiquated law. But experts say that any change to this law would have to come from consumers looking for change, not the collectors.

According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, if a collection agent is to get in touch with a consumer they must deliver what is known as a "mini-miranda" which is a statement that lets the debtor know that the contact is an attempt to collect debt. This leads to problems with the 160 character maximum length of many text messages. Another problem is determining who will pay for the text. Currently, there is no way for a collection agency to determine if a debtor has a plan that includes unlimited text messages. Can you imagine if you got a text message from a debt collector that you had to pay for? That would be outrageous and highly illegal!

Another potential hurdle for debt collection agencies is being sure that the debtor definitely owns the cellphone. For example, the debtor may be using a company owned cell. That company could very well be monitoring the usage of the cellphone, which might lead to illegal third party disclosure issues if debt communications were sent by text.

Sadly for the collections industry, Congress must vote on American taxes, cap and trade, insurance and a slew of other issues first before it can get down and really tackle this text message issue. So it seems like time will tell.


About the Author:
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies This article, In Time, You Might Just Get A Text From Your Bill Collector has free reprint rights.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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