Public appeal issued in Terrebonne for elderly heat health
March 22, 2011"The Metal Children" (Baton Rouge)
March 24, 2011To those who have always had access to the Internet, the idea of finding anything or anyone with a few key strokes can be taken for granted. For businesses attempting to locate people who may have skipped out on a loan or accumulated bad debt, the idea of using the World Wide Web seems both expedient and cost effective, especially when it comes to individuals who make their presence known on social media websites.
While an informal and unscientific survey found that those questioned in the Tri-parish region had the attitude that if a person makes himself known online it is like shouting on a street corner “here I am,” the letter of the law as it applies to creditors and collectors approaching those people has said, “do not do it.”
Making his way into case law, Judge W. Douglas Baird of St. Petersburg, Fla., ordered debt collection agency Mark One Financial LLC of Jacksonville, Fla., to not use Facebook or social media after a woman named Melanie Beacham claimed that debt collectors had violated her privacy and consumer protection laws by sending her messages on Facebook.
Social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter have grown in popularity among those wanting to send significant messages to idle chatter. But according to the 1978 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, contacting debtors via those resources is an invasion of privacy.
Federal privacy laws restrict how creditors and collection agencies can use the Internet to find debtors. So while most of the world rides the superhighway, those attempting to collect on bad debt are left to more traditional methods that require a lot of time and shoe leather.
“You basically have to follow the same rules as banking and finance companies,” said Cash Collection Services owner Adam Chouest from his Houma office. “It’s just like if you bounced a check and I have a business. And I take that check and tape it up so everyone can see. That’s an invasion of privacy.”
Chouest along with online legal sources said that while a person with an outstanding debt or a bad check writer can make themselves known on social media sites, the bill collector cannot post a note that they owe someone money. The collector is also restricted from contacting them there, just as they are stopped by law from calling a person at work or showing up at a debtor’s place of employment.
“My advice?” Chouest asked in regard to what consumers and businesses should know. “Don’t hold a debt more than 60 days. Some people don’t pay until they are turned over to collections,” he said. Chouest admitted that even then many debtors will attempt to avoid being located and making good on the note.
According to Louisiana Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell, as long as debt collectors follow the law they are allowed to contact those who owe, “but it must be done the right way,” he said. Louisiana law prohibits harassing of debtors.
“If they don’t have a good phone number or the e-mail’s being returned, a lot of [bill collectors] use Facebook to find out if [the debtor has] a different address or [check] their employment information,” said American Credit and Collections Association CEO Michelle Dunn in a printed statement.
Dunn said that collectors can gain information by simply watching what the debtor posts then contact them through traditional methods. “They don’t necessarily have to post anything on them, just watch what the person is posting.”
Chouest had a more direct suggestion for collectors thinking of using social media. “Don’t use Facebook,” he said.
