Research
When and where a collector may make contact
The federal rules on debt collection communications are unusually concrete. They fix a default window of hours, name the places contact may not happen, close the list of people who may be told anything, and set out how a consumer ends the contact entirely.
The hours, and what makes an hour unusual
The rule prohibits a debt collector from communicating or attempting to communicate with a consumer at any unusual time, or at a time the collector knows or should know is inconvenient.
It then supplies a default. In the absence of the collector's knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a time before eight in the morning and after nine at night, local time at the consumer's location, is inconvenient.
That default is a floor, not a definition of the whole prohibition. A time inside the window can still be inconvenient if the collector knows or should know it is, and the standard reaches both actual knowledge and what the collector should know.
The same structure applies to places. A collector must not communicate or attempt to communicate at any unusual place, or at a place it knows or should know is inconvenient to the consumer.
Two exceptions lift all of the prohibitions in this group: the prior consent of the consumer, given directly to the collector during a communication that does not itself violate them, and the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction.
For this section, consumer is extended beyond the person who owes the money. It includes the consumer's spouse, a parent where the consumer is a minor, a legal guardian, the executor or administrator of a deceased consumer's estate, and a confirmed successor in interest.
The workplace, and the lawyer
Two situations get their own prohibitions because the harm they cause is specific.
A collector must not communicate or attempt to communicate at the consumer's place of employment if it knows, or has reason to know, that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication.
The trigger there is the employer's rule, not the consumer's preference, and the standard is knowledge or reason to know rather than certainty.
Where the collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to the debt, and knows or can readily ascertain the attorney's name and address, it must not communicate with the consumer directly.
That prohibition has two escapes written into it. It lifts if the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the collector, or if the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer.
Both prohibitions are also subject to the general exceptions for prior consent given directly to the collector and for express court permission.
Who else may be told anything
The third-party rule is drafted as a closed list, which is the strictest way to draft one.
In connection with the collection of a debt, a collector must not communicate with any person other than the consumer, the consumer's attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the creditor's attorney, or the collector's own attorney.
Four exceptions sit outside that list. Communicating for the purpose of acquiring location information, under a separate section of the rules. Communicating with the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the collector. Communicating with the express permission of a court. And communicating as reasonably necessary to effectuate a post-judgment judicial remedy.
Because a communication is defined as conveying information regarding a debt to any person through any medium, the prohibition reaches indirect disclosure as well as deliberate disclosure.
That is why electronic contact carries extra machinery in this rule. A collector maintains procedures reasonably adapted to avoid a bona fide error in sending an email or text if those procedures include steps to reasonably confirm and document that the address or number used is one the rule permits, and that it is not one the collector knows has already led to a prohibited disclosure.
How an email address or a phone number becomes usable
The rule sets out the routes by which an electronic address qualifies, and they are worth reading because they explain who has to have done what before a message arrives.
For email, one route is communication between the consumer and the collector: the consumer used the address to communicate with the collector about the debt and has not opted out, or gave the collector prior consent directly and has not withdrawn it.
A second route runs through the creditor. The creditor obtained the address from the consumer, used it to communicate about the account without being asked to stop, and sent the consumer a clear and conspicuous notice, to an address obtained from and used with the consumer, disclosing that the debt has been or will be transferred to the collector, naming the email address and the fact the collector might use it, warning that others with access to the address may see the emails, giving a reasonable and simple opt-out method, and stating a deadline for opting out that has to be at least thirty-five days after the notice is sent. The opt-out period must then have expired without an opt-out.
That route carries one further condition: the email domain has to be available for use by the general public, unless the collector knows the address is provided by the consumer's employer.
A third route allows a prior debt collector's properly obtained address to be inherited, where the immediately prior collector used it and the consumer did not opt out.
Text messages run on similar routes with a recency requirement layered on. Within the past sixty days either the consumer sent a message from the number or renewed consent, or the collector confirmed, using a complete and accurate database, that the number has not been reassigned since the consumer's most recent message or consent.
Stopping the contact
Two mechanisms end contact, and they operate differently.
The first is medium-specific. Any electronic communication or attempt to communicate using a particular email address, text number or other electronic-medium address has to include a clear and conspicuous statement describing a reasonable and simple method for opting out of further electronic communications to that address or number. The collector may not require, directly or indirectly, that the consumer pay any fee to opt out, or provide any information other than the opt-out preference and the address or number concerned.
The second is general. If a consumer notifies the collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt, or wants the collector to cease further communication, the collector must not communicate or attempt to communicate further with the consumer about that debt.
Three exceptions survive that notice. The collector may advise the consumer that its further efforts are being terminated. It may notify the consumer that it or the creditor may invoke specified remedies that it ordinarily invokes. And, where applicable, it may notify the consumer that it or the creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy.
Those exceptions are worth reading carefully, because they mean a cease notice does not guarantee silence and does not stop a remedy from being pursued. It stops routine collection communication and leaves a narrow channel open.
None of this is the marketing regime. Rules on sales calls, text messages and unsubscribe links come from different statutes with different triggers and are covered separately on this site. A cease notice under the collection rules is not an opt-out from marketing, and an unsubscribe is not a cease notice.
Key takeaways
- Contact before eight in the morning or after nine at night, local to the consumer, is inconvenient by default.
- Contact at the workplace is barred where the collector knows or has reason to know the employer prohibits it.
- Direct contact is barred where the consumer is known to be represented by an attorney, subject to two written escapes.
- The list of third parties a collector may communicate with is closed, with four named exceptions.
- Electronic addresses qualify only through defined routes, one of which requires a creditor notice with a thirty-five-day opt-out deadline.
- A written cease notice stops further communication except for three narrow notifications about terminating efforts or invoking remedies.
Frequently asked questions
What hours may a debt collector call?
The rule prohibits communicating or attempting to communicate at any unusual time, or at a time the collector knows or should know is inconvenient. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a time before eight in the morning and after nine at night, local time at the consumer's location, is inconvenient. That default does not exhaust the prohibition: a time inside the window can still be inconvenient if the collector knows or should know it is.
Can a collector contact someone at work?
Not where the collector knows, or has reason to know, that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication. The prohibition turns on the employer's rule and on the collector's knowledge or reason to know. It lifts on the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the collector during a non-violating communication, or on the express permission of a court.
Who else can a collector talk to about a debt?
The list is closed: the consumer, the consumer's attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the creditor's attorney, and the collector's attorney. Four exceptions apply — acquiring location information under a separate section, prior consent given directly to the collector, express court permission, and communications reasonably necessary to effectuate a post-judgment judicial remedy.
How does a collector get permission to email or text?
Through defined routes. For email: the consumer used the address to communicate with the collector about the debt and has not opted out, or gave direct prior consent; or the creditor obtained and used the address and sent a notice disclosing the transfer, naming the address, warning that others with access may see the messages, giving a simple opt-out and a deadline at least thirty-five days out, with the period expiring un-opted-out and the domain publicly available; or a prior collector's properly obtained address is inherited. Text messages add a sixty-day recency condition on consent or on a database check for reassignment.
What does a written cease-communication notice do?
If a consumer notifies the collector in writing that they refuse to pay the debt or want communication to stop, the collector must not communicate or attempt to communicate further about that debt. Three exceptions remain: advising that further efforts are being terminated, notifying that specified remedies ordinarily invoked may be invoked, and where applicable notifying that a specified remedy is intended. It is not a guarantee of silence and it does not stop a remedy.
Is a collection cease notice the same as unsubscribing from marketing?
No. They come from different bodies of law with different triggers and different consequences. The rules on sales calls, marketing text messages and unsubscribe links are covered separately on this site. Under the collection rules, an electronic communication has to carry a clear and conspicuous description of a reasonable and simple opt-out method for that address or number, and the collector may not charge a fee or demand extra information to process it.
Sources
Each document below is named as it names itself, with the date printed on that document rather than the day it was read.
- Title 12 Code of Federal Regulations Section 1006.6, Communications in connection with debt collection, Regulation F, read paragraph (a) through paragraph (e) — the extended definition of consumer at (a), the time, place, attorney and workplace prohibitions and their exceptions at (b), the cease-communication notice and its three exceptions at (c), the closed third-party list, its four exceptions and the email and text-message procedures at (d), and the electronic opt-out notice at (e) — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Office of the Federal Register, November 2020