|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C.
20580
|
Division of Credit Practices
Bureau of Consumer Protection
|
|
September 13, 1996
Christopher Stanley, Esq.
404 W. Ninth St., Suite 104
Georgetown, TX 78626
Dear Mr. Stanley:
Reference is made to your letters of May 8 and July 9, 1996,
concerning a "Telegram Notification" sent by your client,
a telecommunications company, to consumer debtors. The facts are
as stated in your letters and I incorporate them by reference
in this reply. The question is whether your client is covered
by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) (copy enclosed).
In order for a service provided by your client to fall within
the scope of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, your client
must be covered, i.e., it must be a "debt collector"
under Section 803(6). That Section defines a "debt collector"
as someone who "... regularly collects or attempts to collect,
directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted
to be owed or due another" (emphasis mine). As part of your
client's service to debt collection agencies or credit providers,
it proposes to sent a letter to alleged debtors. The purpose of
the letter is two-fold: first, to alert recipients of the letter
to a voice-mail message left in their names at an 800 number,
and second, to obtain recipients' telephone numbers so that they
can be contacted by a creditor or collector in connection with
the collection of debts allegedly owed by them to third parties.
To the extent that the letter serves a collection function (albeit
an indirect collection function), which we believe it does, it
brings your client within the coverage of the FDCPA.
Since your client would be covered by the Act, its collection
communications would have to comply with the Act. Among other
things, this means that the letter referred to above must disclose
that your client is attempting to collect a debt and any information
obtained will be used for that purpose, in accordance with Section
807(11) of the FDCPA.
I hope this responds to your inquiry.
Sincerely,
John F. LeFevre
Attorney
Enclosure
|
