§ 804.  Acquisition of location information  Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall —

(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;

(2) not state that such consumer owes any debt;

(3) not communicate with any such person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct or complete location information;

(4) not communicate by post card;

(5) not use any language or symbol on any envelope or in the contents of any communication effected by the mails or telegram that indicates that the debt collector is in the debt collection business or that the communication relates to the collection of a debt; and

(6) after the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with regard to the subject debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney’s name and address, not communicate with any person other than that attorney, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to the communication from the debt collector.

LAYMAN’S RECAP

When you engage in the “acquisition of location information,” (or skiptracing, as it is commonly called), you must always conduct yourself in a professional manner and remember that you are NOT speaking to the consumer, but to a third party who probably has nothing to do with the debt you’re attempting to collect.

Always identify yourself (by your name or alias) when skiptracing, but identify your employer ONLY when expressly asked for the information. Never discuss a consumer’s debt with anyone other than the consumer, the consumer’s spouse, or the consumer’s lawyer (we expand on that later).

Once you reach a third party to ask for location information, you must never call back asking for additional information UNLESS the person requests it, or if you believe the information you were given was false, incomplete, or erroneous. Since that is most often a very subjective call, it is best to remember you typically have only one shot at making a skiptrace call work, and if you blow it, you should move on to other sources.

You may not mail postcards, nor use any language or symbols on the outside of envelopes that identify your company as a debt collector or the purpose of your communication as being attempting to collect a debt. In other words, if the name of your employer is ABC COLLECTIONS, they should use only the initials of the company (ex. ABCC) on the outside of any envelope used to mail letters, so as to not identify the company as a collection agency.

Once you are aware that a consumer is represented by a lawyer you may not contact that consumer again unless you’re unable to reach the lawyer, or he fails to respond to your messages in a reasonable amount of time. Consult your employer to determine if company policy identifies how to handle non-responsive consumer lawyers.

THE INDUSTRY SKINNY

This section describes how a debt collector may communicate with any person other than the consumer (a 3rd party) which can only be done for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer.

We live in a highly mobile society where it is not uncommon for consumers to change locations, and in some cases to do so often. Most consumers probably do not move just to evade debt collectors, though there are many who certainly do just that. In any case, collectors are constantly looking for updated location information on consumers who are not available at their most recently known location. Skiptracing is a major sector in the debt collection industry.

Today, many skiptracing vendors provide location information and the need for third party contact has been reduced.  However, there is still a frequent need for collection agencies to do their own skiptracing. If you are expected to do that as part of your job, it is important to know the law.

Accordingly, a debt collector must be fully versed in this section of the FDCPA before attempting third party contacts.   When it is necessary to contact a third party directly, it is imperative that you respect the privacy of consumers and not state that any consumer owes a debt.  The entire purpose of the third party contact is to locate the consumer, it is NOT to collect a debt.

When you communicate directly with consumers, you must also be careful about 3rd party disclosure. For instance, mailing a postcard or a letter that conveys the existence of a debt on the envelope would be likely to expose the communication to a 3rd party, and is therefore illegal. A violation of this part of the statute shows a policy of noncompliance, and could be fertile grounds for a class action lawsuit.

Question: After a debt collector learns a consumer is represented by an attorney, the collector may still request location information from third parties.

A) True
B) False

Question: A debt collector can communicate with anyone as long as the person promises to keep the conversation private

A) True
B) False

Question: When skip tracing, debt collectors may not: