Carrying Student Debt? You May Be In for a Lot of Robo-Calls

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) The calls to Michelle Vasquez's cell phone from student-debt collectors seemed ceaseless: She said she was getting four per day from a computerized dialer. Odette Verrier was on the end of four calls per day from an automatic dialer in January. Ashlee Rogers she said she got three or four calls a day from the same collector as the other two women, Navient Solutions, on her work cell phone, even though she told them someone stole her identity to take out the student loans they referred to.

The three women all sued Navient, which collects student loans on behalf of the government, accusing it of violating federal law by haranguing them with incessant calls.

Now Congress is threatening to take away one of the only legal avenues student borrowers like them have to protect themselves from harassment. Buried in Congress's 56-page budget bill is a new rule allowing debt collectors to “robo-call” people on their cell phones if they owe student debt to the government. The provision may make federal debt collectors exempt from a federal law that protects consumers from robo-calls if they haven’t consented to them.

“This is the worst of Congress, and it’s the worst type of abuse of people who owe debt,” said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who is urging lawmakers to oppose the exemption. “Singling out primarily young people who have graduated with college loans for this type of collection action really seems like salt in the wound of people who are struggling at the start of their careers.” ..........................(more)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-16/carrying-student-debt-you-may-be-in-for-a-lot-of-robo-calls

[Ed Suspicious]

1. I predict suicide rates will rise as a result of this legalized harassment.

[FLPanhandle]

2. Do their smartphones not have the block caller option?

Also, there are apps that will automatically notice and block known robo/sales/etc calls.

[hobbit709]

3. One of the problems you encounter without a landline phone.

Or you can always change your phone number.