Debt collectors may soon be able to send you unlimited texts and emails

The debt collection industry and consumer advocates agree that the 1977 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act needs an update for the age of digital and cellular communication. But not everyone's pleased with rules proposed Tuessday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Debt collectors aren't happy that the rules would limit them to seven calls per week to try and collect on any one debt, and consumer advocates and many people with smartphones aren't thrilled that the rules would allow debt collectors to send unlimited text messages, emails, and even private messages on social media. Currently, debt collectors can use landlines and the U.S. mail. "While many Americans understand how to deal with a pesky creditor calling their landline," The Washington Post notes, "their texts, emails, and social media are new and more personal territory."

The proposed rules do have some safeguards. Debt collectors are supposed to provide a way for debtors to opt out of getting text messages at specific numbers or emails at certain addresses, and, the CFPB says, debt collectors would face legal liability "if the consequence of the communications is harassment, oppression, or abuse of any person." This is no small matter: In 2018, consumers lodged about 81,500 complaints about debt collectors with the CFPB, according to a report released in March; in 2017, there were 84,500 complaints about debt collectors.

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The updated rules would also require debt collectors to itemize the alleged debt being collected, prohibit collectors from chasing debts they know or should know have expired due to statues of limitations, and provide clear instructions on how recipients could pay or contest the charges, the CFPB says. Debt collection has grown into a $10.9 billion industry with 120,000 workers, CBS News reports, and "since the financial crisis, American consumers have taken on more debt, with some delinquencies, such as for auto loans, steadily increasing despite unemployment shrinking the past decade."