Popular Social Media website
- Pintrest
When you are checking out the profiles of people you are looking for, remember that they may have links on their social networking page to other websites or blog they participate in that you can gather more information from.
Contacting debtors using social networks
Something to remember is that as a debt colletor, you may not publicize a debt or discuss it with anyone else other than the debtor, their spouse and /or their attorney, so using a social network to communicate with a debtor would fall into this category.
Dos and Don’ts of using social media in collections
Do’s
- e-learning
- skip tracing or locating debtors
- accepting debtor payments
- researching collection tools. Such as software or skip tracing tools.
- Credit reporting
- Use database technology on maintain account information on customers that owe you money.
- Access consumer payments only with authorization for each specific payment or transaction.
- Researching place of employment.
Don’ts
- Emailing debtors about a debt if you are a third party collector.
- Instant messaging a debtor about a debt.
- Initiating more payments on a bank account when additional transactions have not been authorized.
- Sending debt collection emails, faxes or text messages.
- Don’t send a “friend request” to a debtor or any social networking website.
SEO for Collection Agency
- Debt Verification
- Proof of delivery & Proof of sale
- Statement & Invoices
- Dunning Notices
When Congress enacted the FDCPA, it did not limit the methods a debt collector could use to contact a consumer except for prohibiting the use of postcards but this was before any technology. However, it is important to remember that the FDCPA was enacted to prevent debt collectors from engaging in unfair, deceptive or abusive conduct in using any method to collect a debt. New technology raises questions and issues not considered when the FDCPA was enacted.
The FDCPA applies to third party collector, business owners should check their specific state laws to see what they can or cannot do. Many state laws mirror the FDCPA laws.
