- October 26, 2020
- Posted by: starklogic
- Category: News & Articles
You’ve just received a robocall from a debt collector for a friend or relative. You’re probably asking how the debt collector got your information. When the friend or relative submitted a credit or loan application, they may have provided your information, including cell phone number, as a reference. Someone else providing your cell phone number to the lender is not sufficient to allow the debt collector to robocall you on your cell phone. Debt collectors making such calls without the recipient’s permission could face substantial liability, anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per phone call.
Debt collectors can also run a “skip trace” on the borrower to get your cell phone number. A skip trace involves the debt collector searching a database to identify the borrower’s prior home address, the contact information of relatives, and probable cell phone numbers for the borrower. Less reputable debt collectors will then bombard the borrower’s relatives with robocalls.
You would think that getting debt collectors to stop calling you for someone else’s debt would be easy. Not so. Calling and bullying a borrower’s friends and relatives is an extremely effective tool to coerce the borrow to pay the debt. As such, debt collectors will essentially hold the relative and their cell phone number “hostage” until the borrower pays the debt. The debt collectors do this despite knowing their conduct violates the law. But, since many consumers are not aware of their rights, debt collectors take advantage of the situation and bombard consumers with these harassing phone calls with impunity.
Fight back Against Harassing Phone Calls
State and federal law offers consumers tremendous tools to fight back against harassing robocalls. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act callers who violate the TCPA could be liable for $500 per call. If the violations was “willful” the court may award up to $1,500 per call.
Additionally, you also may be able to recover damages up to $1000 under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Depending on certain circumstances, you may also be able to recover monetary damages for emotional distress due to the debt collector violating your privacy.
Contact us today and Tell us your Story
Remember, you do not have to tolerate unwelcome phone calls. And the good news is that these consumer protection statutes allow an attorney to help you enforce your rights without you having to pay anything out-of-pocket.
To get started towards regaining your privacy, contact the Consumer Justice Law Center today at: 888.488.2552 or email us at: info@consumerjusticelc.com.