| Comment Number: | 529233-00006 |
| Received: | 5/23/2007 11:23:36 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Carl Paulson |
| State: | NY |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Debt Collection Workshop |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I submit that standards need to be tightened regarding debt collectors' contact with third parties. If a debtor's telephone number is disconnected or changed, the next subscriber to whom the number is assigned may receive prerecorded debt collection calls. In the case of many cellular telephones, the new subscriber is paying to receive calls which are attempting to collect a debt which someone else owes. And debt collectors may not accept the new subscriber when that subscriber tries to tell the collectors that the debtor is no longer at that number. We have recently moved, and have received numerous prerecorded debt collection calls for previous subscribers. In one case we had to call the collector back five times before the calls stopped. We reported the collector to the FTC. If debt collectors are advised that the number has been reassigned, they should be required to investigate before they call that number again. If their investigation indicates that the number has been reassigned, they should not be permitted to call that number again. This may be inconvenient for them. Their inconvenience is irrelevant to the people they would otherwise harass. And no one benefits from a call from a debt collector to someone who does not owe the debt, and who does not even know the debtor.