Debt collectors on text, email and social media: the rules

The Debt Collection Rule (Regulation F) lets collectors reach you by text and email, and by private message on social media, as well as by phone and mail. It sets rules for each.

Every text and email must offer an opt-out

A collector that texts or emails you about a debt must include a clear and simple way to opt out of further messages to that address or number. Opting out must be free, and the collector may ask only for your choice and the address or number it applies to.

Timing

The rule against contact before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. your local time covers texts and emails. The time that counts is when the collector sends the message, not when you read it. If you have told a collector a time or place is inconvenient, that applies to every channel.

Where they may not reach you

• Your work email. A collector may not email an address it knows your employer gave you, with narrow exceptions, such as you having written to the collector from that address or having given it permission directly.
• Public social media. A collector may not contact you about a debt on a social media platform where the message can be seen by the public or by your contacts. A post on your page that your contacts can see is off limits.
• Other people. A collector generally may discuss the debt only with you, your lawyer, the creditor and a few others. The rule's email and text procedures are built so a message does not reach someone else.

Calls and voicemails

The rule's presumption of harassment at more than seven calls in seven days counts telephone calls. Texts and emails are left out of that count, though they can still be harassment: the CFPB names repeated electronic messages, such as texts or email, meant to annoy or abuse you as harassment.

A collector may leave a limited-content message, a voicemail with a business name that leaves out that it is a debt collector, a number to call back, and a request to reply. Because it says nothing about the debt, the rule does not treat it as a communication.

Stopping messages

• To stop texts or emails to one address or number, use the opt-out in the message.
• To stop all contact from that collector on every channel, tell it in writing (see how to make them stop). The debt still exists after you do.
• Save screenshots of every message with its date and sender. The CFPB says records like these help if you dispute the debt, meet with a lawyer or go to court.

Before you pay because of a text or email, make sure the debt and the collector are real: ask for validation.

If the rules are broken

You can submit a complaint to the CFPB. You can also sue a collector that breaks the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: a court may award your actual damages plus up to $1,000 more, and the collector pays your lawyer's fees if you win. The lawsuit must be filed within one year of the violation.