Posted By:
Josh K."The thing you should be aware of is discussing a private debt in a public forum is a major violation of Fair Debt Practice Act and could subject you to serious liability if he became aware of it.
You can ask for references, but disclosing the amount and terms of the debt is a no no."
David - while generally its a good idea to watch what you accuse people of, I dont believe that publishing this particular debt on this board vioalates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. That Act prohibits certain conduct by "debt collectors" - including the publication of a list of consumers who dont pay their debts. However, even if an individual creditor is engaged in conduct intended to recover a debt, he/she is not likely to be deemed a debt collector as defined by the Act. The Act defines debt collector as:
"any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another."
the definition goes on to state:
"the term includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts."
What you have here is an individual trying to collect a debt on his own behalf - not one owed or due another. Dan used his own name, but even if he didnt, its doubtful that the second part of the definition would apply since its unlikely that any forum id would indicate that the person is collecting a debt on behalf of another (ie as long as he doesnt state he is from Acme Collection Agency, I think he is fine and can post away).