How are creditors allowed to contact you?

If you owe an outstanding debt, it’s natural that creditors are going to try to contact you to collect. In some cases, consumers are unaware of the debt that they owe, so simple contact is all that is needed. In other cases, creditors may have been trying to collect for some time and so they will make multiple attempts.

But how are they allowed to contact you? There are some regulations under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). For instance, creditors are generally allowed to get in touch with you via:

  • Phone calls
  • Physical mail 
  • Telegram 
  • Fax communications

As you can see, some of these methods are relatively outdated. It’s very unlikely that a creditor is going to try to send you a fax and the average person does not own a fax machine in 2024. Similarly, the law says that debt collectors are not allowed to send postcards. It is not likely that a creditor would even attempt this, but it’s worth noting because they may try to contact you by physical mail.

How does most communication take place?

As you may assume, the most common tactic today is for a creditor to simply call you on the telephone. There are still some restrictions that they have to follow. We have previously discussed how they can’t harass you while you’re at work, for example. They also can’t intentionally call you repeatedly just to harass you, and they can’t choose inconvenient times. As a general rule, this means that creditors shouldn’t call before 8:00 o’clock in the morning and after 9:00 o’clock at night.

Unfortunately, some creditors will violate these rules while harassing borrowers. If this has happened to you, you need to understand all of your legal options.

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