Illegal Collection Calls To Cell Phones
Are You Receiving Annoying And Illegal Automated Calls To Your Cell Phone? You May Be Entitled To Money Damages….
Creditors and collectors have a nasty habit of making illegal calls to your cell phones. Well, they also do it to home and work phones and your neighbors, etc. but specifically here we will talk about cell phone calls.
First, let’s address the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) which is a federal law that prohibits certain types of calls to your cell phone unless you gave the creditor or the collector permission to call your cell phone.
This applies to both collectors and original creditors and it prevents these companies from calling you with an “auto dialer” which is a computer type dialing system. While defense lawyers try and make this complicated, it basically means a non manual dialed call. So, did fingers do the dialing or did a machine do it?
It also prevents pre-recorded messages. If a human being records a message “Please call Portfolio Recovery Associates back on this urgent business matter at 555-555-5555″ and that is what you find when you answer the call or when you get your voicemail, then you are dealing with a pre-recorded human message.
It also prevents machine or computer generated messages. You know the awkward sounding computer voice that slaughters the pronunciation of not only your name but most other words? Yeah. That’s computer or machine generated for you.
If you have received these to your cell phone and you did not give permission, then the statutory damages (not even considering actual damages you might be entitled to) are $500 per call or $1500 per call depending on whether the calls were willful or not. Hard to imagine the calls were accidently made. Its not like the old days where you were dialing on a rotary phone and your finger slips while trying to make the big circle from zero. (If you are under 35, you may not know what I’m talking about. It was a pain, trust me….)
Anyway, you can see that the damages can get the creditors and collectors all lathered up in rage.
“But what if we call someone 100 times in 30 days. Are you saying we could get hit for $150,000?!”
“Yes… that’s the law.”
“But that’s outrageous. Who knew it could come to this?”
“Well, actually you’ve known this is the law for many many years.”
“Yeah but we didn’t think anyone would actually enforce it! This is so unfair!”
“Why is it unfair?”
“Because we like being able to break the law and not have to worry about any serious consequences. This is going to foul up our calculations on the money we make breaking the law.”
“Life’s tough, eh?”
I’m sorry. I suppose I should have more sympathy for people who willfully break the law. That will nail someone with a $40 over the limit fee for going $1 over their credit limit. For someone who will charge 29% interest and think they are nice.
Well.
I don’t.
They know the law and they enforce it against Alabama consumers so turn about is fair play. These collectors and creditors get to have the laws enforced against them. Good for them.
Second, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits debt collectors from making certain types of calls to your cell phones.
The TCPA applies to collectors, as discussed above.
But what also applies to collectors, and not creditors (normally), is the FDCPA, when we are dealing with consumer (non business) debt.
This prohibits several types of conduct that we can relate specifically to cell phones.
- No lying to consumers.
- No unfair conduct towards consumers.
- No dis-respectful or undignified conduct towards consumers.
Boy, the way you blowin’ up my phone
won’t make me leave no faster.
Put my coat on faster,
leave my girls no faster.
I shoulda left my phone at home,
’cause this is a disaster!
Callin’ like a collector -
sorry, I cannot answer!Not that I don’t like you,
I’m just at a party.
And I am sick and tired
of my phone r-ringing.
Sometimes I feel like
I live in Grand Central Station.
Tonight I’m not takin’ no calls,
’cause I’ll be dancin’.
- Keys
- Wallet/purse
- Cell phone
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Do these regulations apply to suburgation companies as well?
Ted,
Generally subrogation companies that are collecting over a car wreck are not considered debt collectors under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). At least that is the law in the Eleventh Circuit (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) the last time I checked.
But the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) does apply to creditors, debt collectors, and everyone else.
So if you have a subrogation company making auto dialed calls, it would need to comply with the TCPA in my opinion or it is facing liability.
Let me know if this answers your question.
Thanks!
John Watts
From what I read in TCPA “Calls cannot be made with artificial voices or recordings to cell phones or to any service in which the recipient is charged for the call.” it seems robo calling is illegal for them to if suburgation companies are covered by TCPA. I have about 20 automated robo call messages saved from them on my cell.
Ted, the question will be did you give permission to call your cell phone to the subrogation company or to the company that hired the subrogation company.
If you think you did not, then I would suggest getting with a consumer lawyer in your state to find out what your options are — this may include filing suit or it may be you should write a letter to the subrogation company and tell them to not call your cell phone.
A lot of these companies that are willing to violate the law will ignore your letter. This shows the intentional nature of the calls which helps to show that the $1500 per call statutory damages is appropriate.
Best wishes with your situation and hopefully you can get good advice from an attorney in your state and then take the right action.
John Watts
I have a debt collector from New York calling my cell, never once gave them permission to call me and i actually disputed them off my Credit Report and had the orginal Company, whom these people say i have a debt with, tell me that they did not have any information about that debt. I called them one time to see why it was on my credit report; when i was disputing this to see what validation they had for this collection they represent themselves as a lawyer firm, my opinion in no real lawyer would act the way he was. I talked to one guy and he was just rude. So i told him at the end of the phone call that we no longer had anything to say and not to call me. That was the first time we talked in September. Well since then i been getting blocked calls leaving messages to call him, calls from his number. I answered the phone this week becuase i am tired of the repeated phone calls i told him it was no longer on my credit report that he needed to stop calling me. He said he will keep putting it on my credit that it dont cost him one thing to keep it on there and i told him that I was done with the conversation and once again said not to call me. After i hung up he called me 16 times one right after the other i still have them on my phone. It is the same guy from the first conversation everytime leaving mesaages and trying to call. Is there another way to file a report without going through court?
Elizabeth,
I’m sorry you are dealing with this type of abusive behavior. No collection agency, whether a lawfirm or not, should treat people this way.
Couple of suggestions for you.
First, get with a consumer lawyer in your state to advise you — I can’t advise you but can only give you some general suggestions. A lawyer licensed in your state can give you detailed advice based upon your state laws and how federal laws are interpreted in your state.
Second, keep an eye on your credit reports. It may be a false threat (which is illegal) but sometimes (actually it is often) abusive debt collectors will use credit reporting as a weapon to extort money out of you even if they know you do not owe the debt. If this happens, it is a good idea to tell the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and Trans Union) exactly what is happening and see if they will do their job and get rid of the account.
Third, document very carefully what is going on with the calls.
Fourth, if this company claims to be a lawfirm, contact the state bar where this lawfirm is supposedly located and see if the state bar has any records of this being a lawfirm and if they can help you.
Fifth, you may want to contact your state attorney general and the FTC in Washington.
If this is a real company, then you may want to think about suing them. I know your comment said “without going to court” but if you have an abusive debt collector, often times the best way to stop them is to sue them.
That normally gets their attention.
But main thing is to get with a consumer lawyer in your area and get some good legal advice. What I have mentioned here will work in my opinion in Alabama but every state is different.
Best wishes and I hope you can get this resolved quickly so you don’t have to deal with it.
John Watts
I love the way you explain the consumer protection laws so we can understand how they are violating our rights. I have a question regarding the TCPA. Like in your video, I am getting calls for my son, I told them they have the wrong number. To date on my cell phone I have received over 125 calls for him. My question is this. My cell phone that I pay for is for unlimited calls, I do not pay per call. My friends and I believe our interpretation is that the debt collectors don’t violate the TCPA when they call a cell phone in which we don’t pay for our minutes. Can you please help clarify this please. You can respond privately to my email if you so choose.
Thank you
Dawn,
Whether you have unlimited minutes or not makes no difference in my opinion. The question is whether the collection agency had permission to call your cell phone with an auto dialer. If not, then the TCPA will come into play. After you told the agency they had the wrong number, this should trigger liability. My suggestion is to get with a consumer lawyer in your state to find out your options or you can contact my office at 205-879-2447 (I think you live out of state) and tell the receptionist that I asked you to call. We may can help you find a lawyer to work with in your state.
I apologize for being so late in responding — I overlooked your comment.
Thanks for the kind words by the way!
John Watts
Watts & Herring, LLC
205-879-2447.