Reasons why debt collectors call about debt at work
Unpaid loans turn debt collectors into intermediaries between creditor and debtor. When it is possible to return the required amount, the agency employee receives a certain incentive percentage. The inspector's salary is made up of such percentages. Money is the first reason why a debt collector calls a debtor, his relatives, friends and even his employer.
Another option when a collector disturbs the borrower’s employer is if the debt was purchased from the bank at a discounted price. That is, in order to return it and even make a profit, it is necessary to force the debtor to pay off his debt obligations as quickly as possible. These can be non-targeted loans, car loans and consumer debt.
When available, that is, legal, methods do not work, an overly confident agency employee extorts money as best he can. Getting on the nerves of the debtor's employer and thus getting through to the latter is, oddly enough, one of the most effective ways.
After all, it is not only the director who may be dissatisfied. Debtors, for the most part, avoid publicizing information about the debt and therefore strive to reach a compromise when paying off the remaining funds on the loan.
Another reason for calling the borrower’s employer is to find out if he has a regular income. If the employee is employed, it means that he can return the loaned money at least in parts. It follows from this that it makes sense to continue to “tyrannize” the worker and his family.
Do debt collectors have the right to come to the debtor’s place of work?
Any activity is subject to the legal framework of the current law. First of all, collectors must be guided by the bank secrecy law, which prohibits the disclosure of information about debts to outsiders. Only the co-borrower and the guarantor have the right to know about it, since they have joint liability with the debtor.
Other categories of citizens, even if they are relatives, are prohibited from disclosing information about the debt. Collectors' threats that they may come to work and tell colleagues about the debt are designed to make you illiterate in this matter, get scared and immediately start looking for funds to pay off the debt. Knowing about the law on non-disclosure of bank secrecy, you can stop unfounded threats from debt collectors to visit your work, adding that you will certainly call the police as soon as they arrive there.
And yet, if you have concerns that debt collectors may come to work, then you should note:
- Situations vary, so the specifics of a particular case should be taken into account.
- Experienced lawyers can find other legal justifications for visiting the workplace, and representatives of the collection agency can come there.
- Many factors can influence a favorable outcome in resolving this issue.
Until a court decision, collectors can only encourage the defaulter to voluntarily repay the debt. Let's look at the ways in which they have the right to act:
- sending SMS messages with debt reminders;
- sending letters by mail with notification of debt;
- telephone calls asking about debt repayment terms;
- personal communication, if the borrower expresses voluntary consent.
Thanks to the restrictions established in Federal Law No. 230 of 07/03/2016, collectors have the right to disturb the debtor on weekdays from 08.00 to 22.00 and on weekends from 09.00 to 20.00, and can also call him no more than twice a week. Personal communication, including home visits, is allowed no more than once a week.
You can avoid meetings with collectors by saying that the borrower does not have such an obligation and that all issues will be resolved only in court. It is quite possible that in this way it will be possible to get rid of annoying reminders for a while, and agents will not come.
Only bailiffs who begin their activities within the framework of enforcement proceedings after a court decision have the right to enforce the repayment of a debt. Before the trial, debt collectors do not have the power to force the defaulter to repay the debt.
Undoubtedly, debt collection agency specialists know their rights and understand that by threatening a debtor to come to his place of duty, they are only exerting psychological pressure, taking advantage of the citizen’s legal illiteracy. Therefore, it is unlikely that they will come to work for the borrower.
Can debt collectors come to work to talk to your boss about your dismissal?
And yet, many debtors are concerned about the question of whether the work of collectors, in particular coming to the workplace, can contribute to dismissal from work? If, despite the fundamental law on bank secrecy, agents decide to come to the management of the debtor, then they still do not have the right to influence the decision on the dismissal of the defaulter from work. Also, bank employees and bank security officers cannot come to the borrower’s place of work.
The threat of coming to work is most often one of the methods of collection services to put psychological pressure on the debtor. Legislators took into account the fact that a large number of citizens take out several loans at the same time, which they subsequently cannot pay off. Amendments were made to the law on consumer lending, and a Credit History Bureau appeared. Now, when hiring an employee, an employer has the right to make a clarifying request to the Bureau to find out about the availability and number of loans of the prospective employee. The information received may serve as a factor contributing to refusal of employment.
What is Soft and Hard in Collections?
There are two groups of specialists who work with debtors:
- Soft – specialists who use the telephone to communicate with the client.
- Hard – mobile team.
Many people do not understand whether debt collectors have the right to call the debtor’s relatives. The client himself often recalls the Federal Law “On Bank Secrecy ,” which collectors do not actually violate. A violation occurs if information about the amount of debt is transferred to third parties. Informing relatives about financial problems is possible based on the terms of the loan agreement and the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
What the law says
If for some reason the debtor is unable to fulfill his obligations to repay the debt and preliminary efforts to resolve disagreements under the loan agreement with the bank or other credit organization have not led to success, the bank will try to get rid of the debt by selling it to a collection agency, partially compensating for losses, caused by an unfulfilled obligation.
Transferring the debt eliminated the need to:
- maintain a staff of managers who are forced to communicate with a large number of borrowers when their obligations are overdue;
- lawyers preparing materials for judicial debt collection and subsequent interaction with the bailiff service for the enforcement of a court decision.
All rights to collect debt are transferred after the conclusion of the agreement to a new legal entity - a collection agency, all of whose activities are aimed at working with a specific category of citizens - defaulters. At the same time, not all debtors are innocent victims of circumstances. At least 30% of them take such a step quite deliberately. In the event of a conflict situation, they strive to counteract completely legal demands for loan repayment:
- stop answering phone calls;
- avoid personal contacts with agency employees;
- change their place of residence;
- quit their job;
- change surnames and first names.
Under these conditions, collectors had to “invent” effective methods of working with such citizens, which unwittingly affected completely law-abiding debtors, for whom problems with non-payment of a loan were already a psychologically traumatic situation.
One of the effective ways to influence a debtor, practiced by debt collectors before 2020, was calls to the debtor’s place of work and threats. The calculation was based on the fact that the management of the enterprise would encourage the employee to pay off the debt under the threat of dismissal in order to preserve their business reputation. The company's managers could provide a loan to valuable employees to pay off debt by refinancing them. In any of the options, the collectors achieved their goal, somewhat unconcerned that their actions were flagrantly violating Articles 15 and 24 of Law No. 152-FZ “On Personal Data.”
It was precisely the violation of the provisions of this law, which is given priority in relation to property disputes, that was the introduction of a ban when collectors could call for debt collection work.
In accordance with the current law No. 230-FZ, under the threat of repressive measures being applied to them, the collector is prohibited from calling the debtor’s place of work, communicating with managers or colleagues, and disclosing information that the employee has an outstanding debt.
What actions can the debtor take?
If the work regulations specified in the law are nevertheless violated, the debtor can take the following actions:
- remain calm, do not panic, and, if necessary, confront firmly.
- Record calls with a voice recorder and warn the interlocutor that the conversation will be recorded.
- Try to convince the bank to meet you halfway. Solve the issue of debt restructuring.
- Apply for bankruptcy and notify the collection agency. In this case, the law prohibits any interaction with the debtor.
- Change your phone number.
- Disappear physically or leave for another city
