A few years ago, the creditor’s lawyer in me thought that Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIn were going to be a debt collector’s best friend. A savvy collector, I thought, would use the employment information, pictures, and all the other information available on the sites to locate, investigate, and collect against their borrowers.
I mentioned this a few months ago, and, recently, Credit and Collections News ran a story on Facebook’s efforts to prevent this, and so did the Credit Slips Blog. In those instances, collectors were leaving collection communications on debtor’s facebook walls.
While I don’t agree with their exact tactics, it is smart to utilize these sites. Social media sites are designed to be a hub of an individual’s life, with cell phone, address, work, and other personal information, all freely available. If people are going to make that information public, then it should be open for public, third party use. Why wouldn’t a creditor use those sites?
Plus, if you’re going to accept a friend request from a stranger in a bikini, you sort of deserve what you get.
Creditors Rights 101 