2006RUS

According to the most current information from company TNS, average Americans still feel quite negatively about the state of the United States economy. According to the study, their feelings about the economy have not changed at all since September. An overwhelming majority, sixty four percent of debtors who were surveyed held a position that things had taken a turn for the worst at that moment. On the other side of the fence, unlike Americans struggling to survive in debt, business executives surveyed that pull in between three million to two billion dollars have a much more positive take on the situation.

Despite the fact that debtors felt a little more positively about the economy potentially getting better in September, their opinion was markedly more negative in December. The survey showed that a larger majority of consumers, about sixty six percent, strongly felt that they will be reducing their personal spending and struggling more financially over the next six months.

Although the executives surveyed were more likely to believe that the economy will recover in the next coming months, consumers remain dubious. This may be chalked up to the fact that these obscenely rich millionaires do not have much reason to worry about anything financially related any time soon. The current economic situation has almost every typical American stuck in cost cutting mode, with the exception of these top executives who sail in yachts and enjoy caviar while sick people are struggling to pay doctor’s bills. It seems as though consumers might have a more realistic take on the situation; most companies are planning to continue to aggressively search for ways to cut costs in the next year. Fifty two percent of these companies surveyed said this includes layoffs and pay cuts for the average American.

And despite the fact that executives remain footloose and fancy free, they concede that the unemployment problem in America will only get worse before it improves. After all, why cut their salaries when they can lay off the average Joe? For example, Walmart recently laid off 11,200 Sam’s Clubs Employees, choosing to outsource the positions for cheaper pay instead. And even if the recent studies suggesting that the jobless rate has been shrinking are correct, there is no denying that no new jobs are being created.

Clearly, this data has its effects on the collections industry. As a writer who writes mainly on this subject, I notice more and more blogs and news articles about bill collectors growing more persistent and aggressive, and more and more bloggers complaining about collection agencies. According to them, debt collectors should be the only ones prospering in the economy. But clearly, they haven’t been. It just seems like these rich executives are the only ones doing that well. The simple fact of the matter is that when consumers just don’t have the money or the means to repay a delinquent account that they took out before their financial situation went downhill, things get tougher for both the debtors and the collectors.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies.

The times they are a changing, and chances are your collection agent is changing with them. If you have been called by a collection agent before, you probably know that most debt collectors are strictly regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act- a federal law that mandates how they can approach you and proceed with the collection process.

Before, bill collectors used a process called “skip tracing,” which is a way of tracking down hard to locate debtors. Skip tracing involves background checks, talking to post offices, old neighbors and family members, credit bureaus, and keeping a computer up to date with any data that may change on the elusive debtor’s new accounts.

Nowadays, it seems as though debt collectors have found a cheaper, more efficient way to locate their debtors – social networking websites like “Facebook.” Gary Nitzkin, a credit collection lawyer with his own firm, weighs in on the situation. “On the surface of it, I can tell you that there is nothing illegal about it.” On the surface indeed. However, Nitzkin and his collectors actually take a step further, “friending” the debtor on whatever social website. After they have made friends with the debtor, they then speak with other friends and find out what the debtor is doing, obtaining the scoop on their financial situation, and determining if there are any new assets that can be taken.

The FDCPA was written in 1978, before social media existed, so there are no specific guidelines monitoring contact that might be made over the internet. However, the FDCPA strictly prohibits collectors from doing or saying anything that is false or misleading. First of all, debt collectors are not permitted to contact third parties regarding a debtor’s financial situation. And perhaps most importantly, debt collectors abiding by the FDCPA must speak only to the debtor about the debt, and they have to verify that they are in fact speaking to the correct individual. Then after that, they must issue a “mini-miranda” letting the debtor know that this contact is an attempt to collect debt and anything said can be used for collection purposes. Nitzkin’s practices are “grey area” at best, shady at worst.

If anything, this borderline abuse of media illuminates one of the major problems of debt collection today, that the FDCPA badly needs to be updated. Debtors and collection agents alike take issue with the law. Debtors think that the monetary damages that the FDCPA award in lawsuits should be increased due to inflation over the years, collection agents complain that there are no provisions regarding cell phone calls in a country where only forty percent of its citizens own a landline. With technology advancing at a faster and faster rate, it is my prediction that the FDCPA won’t be the only law that finds itself needing a big update.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies .