Over the years, consumers in the U.S. have been quite vocal about their feelings for the practice of “auto dialers being used for debt dollars”. Most of it has not been pretty.

Now, with the rising percentage of consumers who have fallen into debt, in no small way a symptom of the economy and unemployment, debt collectors are seeking to use new methods beyond auto dialer technology, namely social media, to pursue delinquent payers.

According to an ABC news report, ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collections Professionals, is now seeking to change current laws that pertain to debt collection practices. Among those laws are the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Once again, consumers are crying foul.

According to ABC, the Association wants the laws changed because it is looking to find even more ways to worm out those who owe money. The Association, on the other hand, says it is just trying to keep up with the times and technology to make contact with people in the way they now prefer to be contacted, namely e-mail, text, social media and cell phones. As it currently stands if debt collectors use auto dialers, often referred to as “robo calling,” or texts or makes contact through Facebook (News - Alert) or cell phone calls in certain ways, they can be in violation of these laws and can face harsh penalties.

Billy Howard, head of the consumer protection department for the law firm Morgan & Morgan, was quoted in the ABC piece as saying in reference to the Association of Credit and Collections, "They want the right to bombard people with e-mails and auto dialers and we have a law in place right now to protect consumers against that type of conduct. The laws should not be expanded to give these guys greater protection."         

Addressing concerns that the Association wants to change current laws as a means to be more aggressive, the Director of Public Relations for ACA International, Mark Schiffman, told ABC, “I don't believe harassment drives any more return on collections than treating a consumer respectfully." He continued that the Association understands that “posting anything on someone's Facebook wall is a violation, and talking to someone [that is not the debtor] on Facebook violates the third party disclosure. Neither one is acceptable. It is unacceptable in any circumstance."

The ACA has written what it refers to as a “Blueprint for Modernizing Debt Collection” that lays out the What, Why and How it envisions change should occur in debt collection procedural allowances by the government. Among the areas it addresses are use of voice mail, e-mail/texting, cell phones and auto dialers. In the auto-dialer segment of the document under the Why [it wants the laws to change] category, it states: “Auto dialers and predictive dialers represent technological advances that have proven to be invaluable tools to the modern collection agency. Unfortunately, current law fails to appreciate significant changes in both technology and consumer preference.”   In the How [it proposes the law should change] category it states: “The TCPA restrictions on the use of an auto dialer or prerecorded message to call a consumer’s cell phone should be amended to limit their application to telemarketing calls, in keeping with the intent of the law.”

The ACA apparently believes its proposed changes to the law should be acceptable to consumers. On the website of the ACA International Educational Foundation, and extension of the Association, it states that its members desire “to treat each consumer with dignity and respect, along with offering solutions that benefit both the consumer and the creditor who is owed money on a past-due bill.”

Howard Morgan doesn’t buy that, speaking to ABC and stating, “I think the debt collection agency is a lot of things but charming is not one of them. And this five-point plan does not change that opinion."