By Alla Gulchina

April 7th, 2011

In 1977, Congress enacted the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).  Long before the web boom and the influx of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and LinkedIn, debt collectors relied primarily on the telephone and mail to communicate with consumers in an attempt to collect on defaulted debts. However, technological advances have given debt collectors more access into the lives of consumers and they have taken advantage of that access.

The internet allows access to large quantities of information about consumers in a consolidated and easily available format. Web-based social media networks, specifically Facebook and Myspace, allow consumers to post personal information about themselves. Using this debt collectors can tailor their collection efforts to maximize results. Michelle Dunn, a former collector said “[m]ost [debt collectors] are using Facebook for consumer debt, but for the younger set would use Myspace. Business-to-business credit would be LinkedIn.” What kind of information do collection agencies look for? CreditCards.com claims that investigators search for identities of family members and friends to approach, or evidence of shopping trips or vacations, perhaps even employment information.

Since the FDCPA has not been amended to account for such advances in technology, most of these investigatory tactics are legal so long as collection agencies are only viewing the information. Most recently, in Beacham v. Mark One Financial, a judge in Florida ruled that contact through Facebook was inappropriate and rose to the level of harassment. In that case, Ms. Beacham and her friends were contacted via Facebook message, called six to ten times a day, and sent text messages. The judge ordered Mark One Financial to cease contact with Ms. Beacham. In a different case, a Chicago man was friended on Facebook by a young woman. The “friend” turned out to be a debt collector, something the man realized only when this alleged young lady posted a message on his wall: “Pay your debts, you deadbeat.”

While the ruling in Ms. Beacham’s case was in her favor, consumers are urged to be careful about posting too much personal information with the knowledge that debt collector’s can use that information to their advantage and ultimately, the consumers disadvantage.