Consumer Law

?Deceased Collection? May Get New Regulations

By Sam Glover

http://flic.kr/p/i6Zio

“FTC proposes new guidelines for collecting debt from dead people“, reads the Washington Post’s headline. As it turns out, debts don’t die with the debtor, and debt collectors don’t let a little thing like a funeral slow them down. They keep calling, implying that relatives ought to discharge the deceased’s “moral obligation” to pay the debt, even if that means paying it out of their own pockets.

The proposed FTC rules would make it clear a debt collector may not talk about moral obligations or try to get relatives to pay the debt themselves. But the proposed rules may also weaken the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s prohibition against discussing a debt with third parties.

You can read the proposed rules or submit a comment to the FTC before December 1, 2010.

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Full post as published by Caveat Emptor on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).