Welcome to RegulationRoom, sbwaddell. The CFPB is interested in learning more about what information you think collectors should provide when they contact consumers and whether consumers should be able to limit how and when collectors contact them. If you are interested in sharing more of your ideas on these topics, please see the “Voicemail and answering machine messages” and “Limiting collector communications” topics directly below.
Merging all types of debt collectors into the same introductory phrase is actually more confusing to the consumer than knowing the actual standing of the debt collector by how they introduce themselves.
Maybe it is time to better delineate who it is that is calling. Instead of the most commonly used phrase of "This is a Debt Collector calling"...
How about, "This is a Debt Collector calling on behalf of (name of credit card)...", OR, "This is a (name of credit card company) debt collector calling"...
Example, "This is a debt collector calling on behalf of a Bank of America debt...", or, if the debt collector is actually employed by Bank of America, "This is a Bank of America Debt Collector calling...".
And then there is the nuance of a debt that has or has not been sold to the first debt collector, perhaps whether the debt has been sold should be stated upfront as well.
Perhaps "This is a third party debt collector..." should be used for debt that has been sold twice, and so on.
Moderator
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Welcome to RegulationRoom, sbwaddell. The CFPB is interested in learning more about what information you think collectors should provide when they contact consumers and whether consumers should be able to limit how and when collectors contact them. If you are interested in sharing more of your ideas on these topics, please see the “Voicemail and answering machine messages” and “Limiting collector communications” topics directly below.
View this comment in the discussion thread
Debt Neutrality Petition
2
Merging all types of debt collectors into the same introductory phrase is actually more confusing to the consumer than knowing the actual standing of the debt collector by how they introduce themselves. Maybe it is time to better delineate who it is that is calling. Instead of the most commonly used phrase of "This is a Debt Collector calling"... How about, "This is a Debt Collector calling on behalf of (name of credit card)...", OR, "This is a (name of credit card company) debt collector calling"... Example, "This is a debt collector calling on behalf of a Bank of America debt...", or, if the debt collector is actually employed by Bank of America, "This is a Bank of America Debt Collector calling...". And then there is the nuance of a debt that has or has not been sold to the first debt collector, perhaps whether the debt has been sold should be stated upfront as well. Perhaps "This is a third party debt collector..." should be used for debt that has been sold twice, and so on.
View this comment in the discussion thread