Debt collector called my mother without permission

[poooookah78]

Hello everyone. My apologies if this is the wrong place but I wanted to ask the group. I have an old Target card and a third party collector called my mother on her cell. I never gave them her number and certainly didn't authorize this. I went off on the manager I spoke to and he said they removed her number. I am livid and want to know if I have any legal recourse. They told her to contact me and give me the reference number. Nothing else was disclosed.

Thank you in advance!

[DollyLama]

Honestly, no. No further disclosure was spoken. Had they stated you owed ex. $542.36 and ask her to pay, or how far you are past due, etc. would be different. Do a cease and desist on the Collection company, with only communication with you. Sounds as if they are skip tracing you. Don't ignore calls, or if you are pay, contact them to try to work something out. Depending on how agressive they are, will contact a work number, relatives, neighbors. 

[ChessChik47]

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@poooookah78 wrote:
Hello everyone. My apologies if this is the wrong place but I wanted to ask the group. I have an old Target card and a third party collector called my mother on her cell. I never gave them her number and certainly didn't authorize this. I went off on the manager I spoke to and he said they removed her number. I am livid and want to know if I have any legal recourse. They told her to contact me and give me the reference number. Nothing else was disclosed.

Thank you in advance!

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Unfortunately that's a part of the collection process...they reach out to anyone that is linked to you to try to get contact information on you in order to get their money back.  I get random calls every now and then for folks looking for one of my family members and all I do is tell them that person isn't at this number and hang up on them.  

[Anonymous]

Hmmm... I'll let others chime I but I do not think they are allowed to contact others.

[LakeLife]

This is a good example as to why it's a bad idea to ignore collection calls.  If you lead them to think they don't have good contact information for you they will use means at their disposal to find you.  This can lead to embarassing situations such as the OP stated.  

[Anonymous]

There is an entire section of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that regulates debt collection calls to third parties.
Debt collectors cannot reveal a consumer’s debt to a third-party
If a debt collector contacts a third party, they cannot reveal the consumers debt. Congress was specifically concerned with debt collectors harassing other people to pressure a consumer to repay a debt.
Debt collectors are allowed to contact third parties to obtain or confirm location information, but the FDCPA does not allow debt collectors to leave messages with third parties.

[RobertEG]

The two relevant FDCPA provisions pertaining to disclosure to third parties are sections 804 and 805.

FDCPA 804 permits a debt collector to contact a third party, but only to attempt to obtain location information for a consumer.

It expressly prohibts them from informing the third party that the consumer is alleged to owe a delinquent debt.

If a debt collector called your mother, it is permissible if they only asked for location information, and did not disclose that you are asserted to owe a delinquent debt.

FDCPA 805 defines communications other than those attempting only to obtain location information.

Section 805(b) specifies that a debt collector cannot otherwise communicate with a third party regarding attempt to collect on a debt, and section 805(d) includes a spouse of a consumer as also being considered as the consumer, which means that a spouse is not a prohibited third party.

Violations of any provisions of the FDCPA entitle the consumer to statutory damages of $1,000 without any need to show that the violation was willful.