Too Many Calls?

Your day is often punctuated by the sound of a ringing phone. 

It is disturbing and you will check the “caller ID” or if the cable TV is on the “caller ID” info will display in the upperleft hand corner of the screen. The display will show an unknown phone number and state “private’” “unknown” or a seemingly interesting business name like “Orofino.” You choose NOT to answer because the caller is unknown or you are busy. No message is left…

Later the same morning the same caller, no message. You go out to the grocery story than visit a friend and are gone for three hours; you check the caller ID and find that the same number called five additional times; no message left.  This “cat
and mouse” game continues throughout the evening and by bed time you find that
you have been called 18 times in one day, by the same number but no message has been left.

Regulation. Collectors need it. Consumers are demanding it. Consumer groups want it. Courts are just now learning about it. Consumer attorneys are looking for it. What is it? Plain and simple; it is dialer control. How many calls does
a debt collector make in a day, a week, a month? How many messages does he
leave? Complaints focusing on “over dialing” are on the rise. Consumers are
challenging courts to draw more definite lines in the law about how many calls
are too many.

The case law is that debt collectors may not engage in an “unacceptable pattern of calls.” The problem; however, is that the consumer’s behavior will often be a factor in considering whether the pattern of calls is unacceptable. The courts noted that the high volume of calls reflected the difficultly in reaching the consumer and not that the collector intended to harass the consumer. Had the consumer disputed the debt, the courts may have reached a different conclusion.

Three calls to a consumer in a single day may be lawful if the phone is never answered, at least three hours separate each attempt, and there has never been any live contact with the consumer. However, does the same rule apply if 18 attempts are made in a single day?

How about in a case where the consumer has mailed or e-mailed a “cease & desist” notice or notified the original creditor that the debt is disputed or requested information in writing?  The collection agency may want to “step up” efforts to make contact because they sense that a “live-one” may be ready to crack…

 In the absence of direct “right-party” telephone contact with the consumer by the debt collector haw many calls are “Too many?”

Patrick Ingegno can be reached at inner-circle@optimum.net or
www.innercircledebtsolutions.com