Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), certain types of calls are exempt from the Do Not Call provisions. Consumers who have placed their numbers on the Do Not Call Registry can still receive calls from:

Many consumers have reported receiving telephone calls from “debt collectors” attempting to collect on loans that were never received by the consumer or on loans that were received but the amount was not owed. In other cases, consumers have been receiving calls from people who are seeking to recover on loans that the consumer did receive but the creditor never authorized the calls. Consumers who are receiving such calls, be aware, these “debt collectors” may actually be scam artists.

Many people have bad experiences with debt collectors and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) wants to hear about them. They are preparing to update the rules that govern how debt collectors communicate with borrowers and they are seeking information from both debt collection companies and consumer advocates to help them prepare the new rules. Their goal is to better protect consumers while not limiting legitimate debt collection activities.

In the first Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action against a debt collector who used text messaging in their efforts to collect debts in an unlawful manner, the California based collector will pay $1 million to settle the charges that they violated federal law.