The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) makes it illegal for a debt collector to communicate with any person other than you or your attorney about your debt. When a debt collector leaves a message on your answering machine (does anyone have these anymore?) or voicemail, it runs the risk that other people will overhear that a debt collector is contacting you. Embarrassing, right?

According to FDCPA case law here in Minnesota, if a debt collector leaves a voicemail and either a) identifies itself as a debt collector or b) mentions a debt that you owe, it has broken the law. If so, you may be entitled to $1,000 statutory damages plus any actual damages you incurred (such as emotional distress damages for invading of your privacy). The best part? You get your attorney’s fees from the debt collector. That means you don’t have to pay us unless we win your case.

If a debt collector leaves you a voicemail and someone else hears it, give us a call right away.

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• Can I record phone calls from debt collectors?

Tags: answering machine, debt harassment, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Minneapolis consumer attorney, Minneapolis FDCPA attorney, Minnesota FDCPA attorney, voicemail

This entry was posted on Friday, June 10th, 2011 at 2:11 pm and is filed under FDCPA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.