Move out of the way Unsolicited Pics of Private Parts, there’s another pesky thing that will be sliding in your Direct Messages soon, all thanks to a brand new Debt Collection Rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. in a news article from CBS News it has been confirmed that Debt collectors are now allowed to slide into your DMs, according to new financial regulations that went into effect on Tuesday allowing debt collectors to contact people via their social media accounts.
In a sense, this could mean that your Twitter, Facebook, and Messenger accounts could soon be receiving messages from debt collectors that are seeking to track down an unpaid bill. This change will impact tens of millions of Americans, given the fact that one-third of adults with a Credit Report have a debt in collections.
It is time to go over the facts, under this new Debt Collection Rule, from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Debt Collectors must abide by some restrictions, already some consumer advocates warn that there will be no way to prevent harm to some debtors.
- Debt Collectors don’t need consumers’ permission to reach out via Social messages.
- The New Rule doesn’t limit the messages that a debt collector can send.
There are limitations, however, a debt collector will have to send private messages that aren’t viewable for your friends or the public to see, this means that they cannot publicly on your Facebook Page about an Overdue Bill. April Kuehnhoff, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center spoke to CBS about this new development and had this to say:
“Even with direct messages, there are risks that messages will go to the wrong people, For example, if a debt collector wants to send a private message to John Smith on Facebook, the collector will need to select the correct John Smith so that it does not send private information about the alleged debt to the wrong person. The new rules require a disclosure that the friend request is from a debt collector, but consumers will need to be vigilant for this information to avoid granting a debt collector access to private information that they share with social media contacts.“
April Kuehnhoff, Staff Attorney at the National Consumer Law Center
For more on this story, head over to CBS News for further details.
SOURCE: CBS NEWS
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