CA calling my parents repeatedly

[Yogurt]

A CA has called my parents residence 3 times now asking for me. Each time my parents have said I am not there. I have heard that this is a violation of FDCPA because CA can call relatives once and that is it. I am keeping record of the calls but... it gets complicated.

The catch is that I did spend three months visiting my parents and while I was there, I had nothing better to do than check my credit reports. My credit reports were sent to their address but I don't live there. There is a potential that one of my trade lines has my parents number attached to it too as my cell did not have signal out there and I had to call customer service.

So... do I have any rights here? I just want them to stop calling my parents really but if I have any leverage to make them go away all together I would love that.

[Lian]

The statutory regulation of communications with third parties is set forth in FDCPA 804 and 805, as follows:

"FDCPA 804. Acquisition of location information
Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall-
(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;
(2) not state that such consumer owes any debt;
(3) not communicate with any person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct and complete location information; ...."

"FDCPA 805(b). Communicating with third parties
Except as provided under section 804, without prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a post judgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector."

"Location information" is defined in section 803(7) as "a consumer's place of abode and his telephone number at such place, or this place of employment."

That covers the statutory provisions of the FDCPA pertaining to third party communications.

As for communicating with you, FDCPA 805(c) states that if you notify a debt collector to cease further communication with you, they must cease communication. However, this cease communication bar only applies to you. You cannot require them to cease authorized communications with a third party. Section 805(b) takes care of that.