Debt collectors are now able to DM people in debt

[rrats]

Summary

 

Creditors in US and CA are now able to reach out people in debt via private messages, both on social media, E-mail and SMS. This lead to a huge number of people questioning their privacy and scam vulnerability. Debt collectors are unable to make more than 7 calls each week.

 

Quotes

Quote

The rules are really disappointing and concerning in a number of ways (April Kuehnhoff, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center)

 

My thoughts
The fact that they are actually connecting people with their social media accounts is concerning. Tons of vulnerability.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59514464

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/02/1060597759/debt-collectors-can-now-text-email-and-dm-you-on-social-media

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Laughs in indonesia

[williamcll]

imagine being in debt in the first place.

[rrats]

2 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Laughs in indonesia

Or any country other then Murica and Canada

[GrandNebSmada]

It really amazes me how people still choose to live in that state.

[Gork]

considering how few facts they care about getting right. Or that some debts are good (land and stocks), medical debt: well you did need that apendex removed right? that disease having recked face? Spamming people on social media or text is.. awful.

Fun fact: by the time  something is collections. The first company "sold it" to clearing houses just to piss all over your data to the highest bidder. they then "traceback call" to anything in 50 mile radius, ie they just start calling everyone in 50 miles in a hap hazzard way in the hopes of finding someone that fits the profile. yes that is illegal.

[mr moose]

One mostly evil industry using another mostly evil industry to harass people.  Yay for society working for human betterment.

[Stahlmann]

3 hours ago, williamcll said:

imagine being in debt in the first place.

Without trying to be politial or offensive i think being in debt is part of the US "lifestyle" so to say. I think in the USA credit cards are the single most used method of payment. So basically everything they buy is debt in the first place.

 

I have once used a credit card, but only because the online store didn't accept anything else. I never understood the point of the credit card juggling americans do in the first place.

 

But some things you just cannot afford without taking a credit. Most people could not buy or build houses from their monthly income and saving up alone.

[Stahlmann]

2 hours ago, 5Beans6 said:

It really amazes me how people still choose to live in that state.

I know quite a few people that don't want to but never got to choose. Not everyone can afford moving to europe, canada etc., or wants to leave their familiy to live in another country. Not to mention there is a panedmic around that makes immigration a lot harder.

[tikker]

3 hours ago, williamcll said:

imagine being in debt in the first place.

Attend university and you no longer have to imagine

[Stahlmann]

7 minutes ago, tikker said:

Attend university and you no longer have to imagine

Student debt is yet another one of these US issues. Here in germany you basically GET money for going to university.

 

A friend of mine is currently studying to become a teacher. And with just a little part time job (two 8-hour shifts per week) he can easily afford his apartment, food, etc. and even has money to spare for luxury items. And he is not building up any debt.

[tikker]

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

Student debt is yet another one of these US issues. Here in germany you basically GET money for going to university.

Student debt is a thing here in The Netherlands as well. They can cover your tuition, but it's a loan so you have to pay it back after you are done (over time). They can also cover more, but the system is a bit of a mess with what's a loan and what will become a gift.

[Stahlmann]

3 minutes ago, tikker said:

Student debt is a thing here in The Netherlands as well. They'll cover your tuition, but it's a loan so you have to pay it back after you are done (over time). They can also cover more, but the system is a bit of a mess with what's a loan and what will become a gift.

Yes you have to pay some of it back here aswell, but not to a degree where you'll work for decades to pay off student loans or save up for years just to being able to afford university for your kid. 

[tikker]

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

Yes you have to pay some of it back here aswell, but not to a degree where you'll work for decades to pay off student loans or save up for years just to being able to afford university for your kid. 

Yeah no that's true. It's pretty "affordable" to go to university in that regard. You'll just have like 10k debt at minimum when you are done. Then you have two years until you have to start paying it back, at which point you used to have 15 and now have 35 years to pay it back. Not that it's voluntary, those time spans are just used to calculate the amount they'll charge you monthly, but you are free to do more or bulk payments.

[Lurick]

5 hours ago, williamcll said:

imagine being in debt in the first place.

Imagine buying a house

Imagine buying a car

Imagine being poor and living paycheck to paycheck and still unable to afford the basics.

[TetraSky]

*laugh in no social media presence*

 

*received a DM on the LTT forum*

Oh shi--

 

Easy solution to this... Just don't live above your means. Shit happens, but paying off your debt should be the #1 priority, not getting more debts.

Growing up, I have seen what being in debt can do to people from my parents constantly having 30k+ in credit card debts and barely being able to stay afloat by paying off the interest, getting constantly harassed by multiple phone calls every day... I refused to live like that.

Because of my parents, my mindset is basically : If I can't afford to pay it all today and still staying afloat, then I can't afford it, cut off everything non essential, live with roommates, eat noodles and rice for a month if you have to, no debt!

Didn't have my first phone until just a few years ago and I've been on a dirt cheap prepaid $15 plan, 100minutes, unlimited texting and 250MB of data for a long time now.

Even got my first credit card at the age of 28 out of necessity to build up a stupid credit score after being told by my bank I couldn't take advantage of deal with them since I essentially didn't exist to them due to having no credit score to speak of. 

[BuckGup]

So how can they actually prove it's you? They aren't running bloodwork and DNA tests to sign you up for Facebook. I could create 100 fake accounts or have 100 bots that look like me and they will be sitting DMing bots forever. 

[wanderingfool2]

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Laughs in indonesia

From what I've read online Indonesia doesn't have laws regarding this...which would mean they actually could do this already, and they could also constantly phone/harass you.  At least currently there are laws that prevent them from calling you more than 7 calls in a week and only 1 call a week if they talk to you.

 

8 hours ago, rrats said:

Or any country other then Murica and Canada

I'm going to try staying out of this part of the topic as much as possible, as I do think it's political.  Just saying, for anyone who keeps saying "america" and such, seriously look long and hard at where you live (and what could potentially be said about it).   No country if perfect, and each will have laws put in place that may look terrible on the surface.  Also, debt to GDP, America is only 8th.  Household debt to GDP they are like 12th; so can't really be insulting too much.

 

8 hours ago, rrats said:

The fact that they are actually connecting people with their social media accounts is concerning. Tons of vulnerability.

Expand on what you mean.  There isn't much of a vulnerability.  They aren't publicly allowed outing you (like posting it publicly), they aren't allowed going to a company and saying "hey let me send this message to this person" which means they effectively have to get you to add them as a friend on a large swaths of websites or you have to have it so that anyone is allowed messaging you.  The fact is there is very little that can be exploited here...and there is a growing trend of people getting rid of their phone, and getting a new number....vs social media it's harder for people to give that up.

 

Unless I am missing something, there isn't really anything that concerning about this [well except that they aren't limited how many messages they can send...but I bet that will be changing soon and even then if they send too many messages to people the platforms themselves will likely boot the people out for spamming].

[CTR640]

Good Lord, America is sure a place with a lot of dumb people and I'm not targetting those that knows how to handle money well without staying in debts forever. I fucking hate it to have debts and if something is expensive and I can't afford it, I make to save money. If still too expensive, then screw it, I let that item go. But debt collectors knowing anything about you is plain stupid without a doubt. That's very intrusive and invasive.

[jagdtigger]

1 hour ago, TetraSky said:

Easy solution to this... Just don't live above your means.

Good luck getting a house without loan (forget about renting, i dont need the uncertainty above my head worrying when my landlord will boot me out).....

[Dedayog]

5 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Student debt is yet another one of these US issues. Here in germany you basically GET money for going to university.

 

A friend of mine is currently studying to become a teacher. And with just a little part time job (two 8-hour shifts per week) he can easily afford his apartment, food, etc. and even has money to spare for luxury items. And he is not building up any debt.

I think we call that "being given shit for doing nothing".  Though Germany's tax structure is different than the US too.

 

We can go on and on about this country or that, but the end of the day the US economy and lifestyle is built on debt.  It's how we're taught and why we have so many vehicles for debt acquisition.

 

We also have a lot of firms that help with debt resolution and mediation.  So when I see news like this... I don't mind. If you allow your debt to get that place, meaning a firm has sold your debt to a collection agency or hired one, you should have been proactive to work with the lender.  So yes, they should be allowed to find ways to reach out to you.  Harassment is subjective here.

 

 

[tkitch]

5 hours ago, tikker said:

Yeah no that's true. It's pretty "affordable" to go to university in that regard. You'll just have like 10k debt at minimum when you are done. Then you have two years until you have to start paying it back, at which point you used to have 15 and now have 35 years to pay it back. Not that it's voluntary, those time spans are just used to calculate the amount they'll charge you monthly, but you are free to do more or bulk payments.

10K?  Most colleges will cost more than that for a single year in the US.  If not a single SEMESTER.  

[linkboy]

8 hours ago, 5Beans6 said:

EIt really amazes me how people still choose to live in that state.

 

I don't know why California was singled out when it's a federal thing, so it applies to every US citizen.

 

Either way, it's a load of bs.

 

  

5 hours ago, tikker said:

Yeah no that's true. It's pretty "affordable" to go to university in that regard. You'll just have like 10k debt at minimum when you are done. Then you have two years until you have to start paying it back, at which point you used to have 15 and now have 35 years to pay it back. Not that it's voluntary, those time spans are just used to calculate the amount they'll charge you monthly, but you are free to do more or bulk payments.

 

$10k in student loans when you're done with college in the US is a pipe-dream.

 

 

[poochyena]

9 hours ago, rrats said:

Creditors in US and CA are now able to reach out people in debt via private messages, both on social media, E-mail and SMS. This lead to a huge number of people questioning their privacy and scam vulnerability. Debt collectors are unable to make more than 7 calls each week.

I'm shocked they weren't allowed to do that before. Had no idea there were restrictions in the first place. I really don't see this mattering much though.

9 hours ago, williamcll said:

imagine being in debt in the first place.

yea, those filthy poors not being able to pay for a $100k+ house in cash. Imagine being them.

8 hours ago, 5Beans6 said:

It really amazes me how people still choose to live in that state.

which state?

 

[linkboy]

2 minutes ago, poochyena said:

which state?

He's talking about California, even though this was a federal decision, which was a ruling done by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and approved by the Trump Administration.

 

It applies to every US citizen, not just ones living in California.