Loan Servicer Rang My Friend After I Missed One Payment

A borrower says her student-loan servicer tracked down a friend's phone number and left two voicemails — raising questions about whether the contact violated federal debt-collection law.

A student-loan borrower says her servicer called a personal friend after she missed a single payment.
The friend reported receiving two voicemail messages from the servicer.
The borrower says she has no idea how the company obtained her friend's number.
Debt-collection attorneys say third-party contact without consent can violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Federal rules generally bar collectors from disclosing a debt to third parties or contacting them more than once.

A student-loan servicer called a borrower's personal friend after she missed a payment — and the friend told her it was the second message the company had left, according to a complaint reviewed by the Wail.

The borrower said she had no idea how the servicer obtained the friend's number. The contact was unsolicited and came after a single missed payment, not a pattern of default.

Debt-collection attorneys told the Wail the move could breach the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which prohibits collectors from contacting third parties more than once and bars them from revealing the existence of a debt to anyone other than the borrower, a spouse, or an attorney.

The servicer has not publicly responded to the complaint. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which enforces the FDCPA, accepts borrower complaints online and has taken enforcement action against servicers for similar third-party contact violations in prior years.

Legal experts say borrowers in this situation should document every contact, file a CFPB complaint, and consult a consumer-law attorney — potential statutory damages under the FDCPA run up to $1,000 per violation.

The CFPB's student-loan ombudsman is expected to publish its annual servicer report later this year.