Posted by Jeff Ortler on 1/18/09 5:42pm
Msg #274961

Unethical and illegal judgment collections by....

This person contacted me in an attempt for me to give him checking account information relating to the collection of his judgment against a company on this site. This is a complete breach of the GLBA guidelines and all of you should be aware of this. Any information obtained to collect a judgment that is not through proper channels subjects both the receipient and the person providing the illegally obtained information to a lawsuit. You could lose far more than the judgment is worth if you attempt to breach this guideline...

Reply by Joan_OH on 1/18/09 6:43pm
Msg #274963

We write checks everyday - and so does this company you are talking about. We write them to pay our bills, groceries, mail them, copy them, fax them, give them to our utility company and mortgage company to auto deduct our payments. You just cannot have the expectation that your checking account number can possibly remain private. We put the information out there EVERY day. Heck, we regularly hand it over to the minimum wage cashier at the Super K!

I don't remember ever signing anything or reading a disclaimer saying I'm to keep the check "Private" when they mail them to me.

Joan-OH

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 1/18/09 7:53pm
Msg #274968

Joan, thay may be true, but I'm pretty sure it is still against the law to give out somebody else's banking information without permission.

I mean, how what would you do if somebody trying to collect money from you went to the grocery store and said, "I know that this person shops here so I need you to go through your records and hand over their banking information." And then the store actually did it?

Reply by John_NorCal on 1/18/09 8:52pm
Msg #274980

Fair Debt and Practices Collection Act....

Collecting a debt is regulated through the teeth! There are many things you are prohibited from doing, not the least of which is:

b) COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. Except as
provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the
consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express
permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as
reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudgment judicial
remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection
with the collection of any debt, with any person other
than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency
if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of
the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector.

Without a court judgement, I sure would not turn over any personal information like checking account numbers. If someone wants to get into another's checking account, let them get a court judgement and a writ of attachment. Other than that, why would anyone want to expose themselves to financial liability for invasion of privacy?

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 1/18/09 9:18pm
Msg #274983

Re: Fair Debt and Practices Collection Act....

From what I've been told and experienced, the FDPCA actually only regulates third-party collectors, not the original creditor, such as a collection agency. Also, the FDPCA only covers consumer debts, not business debts.

However, each state may have laws that extend the FDPCA to original creditors as well, or have more strict rules. Much like notary laws... it depends on the state.

This comes straight from an advanced business law course that I'm taking right now, and the teacher is a practicing business attorney. Clearly, I'm no attorney, it's just the we just went over the FDPCA and debt collection issues last week.