In the latest episode of the Debt Collection Drill podcast series, Moss & Barnett attorneys Aylix Jensen, Michael Etmund and John Rossman provide specific guidance on the circumstances in which a collection agency may legally delete all information previously furnished to a credit reporting agency, also known as a tradeline deletion. 

Regulation F contemplates debt collectors communicating with consumers using a scripted “limited content” voicemail message which contains the business name of the debt collector, but “does not indicate that the debt collector is in the debt collection business.”  While consumer advocates agree that this limited content message will be extremely beneficial to consumers, debt collectors must proceed cautiously with implementation to ensure full compliance with all requirements of the limited content message contained within Regulation F.

A debt collector must verify the identity of a communication
recipient to ensure a right-party contact while also avoiding a disclosure
about the existence of the debt to a third-party. Thus, a debt collector
must, when asked, provide meaningful information about the purpose of
a telephone call to a third-party – even when the third-party refuses to
identify herself – without disclosing that the call is an attempt to collect
a debt.
In the latest episode of the Debt Collection Drill podcast, Moss &
Barnett attorneys John Rossman and Mike Poncin are joined by attorney
Aylix Jensen who elaborates on her recent, complete victory in Federal
Court establishing that a debt collector did not violate the FDCPA by
stating it was a “financial services company” calling regarding a
“personal business matter” to an unidentified individual – the Plaintiff –
who the Court identified as the correct “customer for the account.”