When and how may a debt collector communicate with a consumer? Answer in under 100 words. Cite only eCFR sources.

Details / How it works

• Timing and place: Absent knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, times before 8:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m. local time at the consumer's location are presumed inconvenient, and collectors must avoid unusual or inconvenient places, including hospitals and places of worship.
• Representation and workplace: Except as otherwise provided, a debt collector must not communicate if it knows the consumer is represented by an attorney who has neither failed to respond nor consented, nor at the consumer's place of employment if the employer prohibits such communication.
• Audience limits: Debt-collection communication is generally restricted to the consumer, the consumer's attorney, consumer reporting agencies (if otherwise permitted by law, e.g., under the FCRA), the creditor, the creditor's attorney, and the debt collector's attorney, subject to carve-outs such as lawful location-information acquisition under §1006.10 and effectuating postjudgment judicial remedies.
• Stopping contact: After a written refusal to pay or cessation request, the collector must stop communicating about that debt except to advise that efforts are terminating or that specified remedies (e.g., lawsuits, credit reporting, wage garnishment, repossession) may or will be invoked.
• Electronic channels: Every electronic communication or attempt must carry a clear and conspicuous opt-out statement, and email or text messages are permitted only under procedures matching §1006.6(d)(4)–(d)(5) — including consent, prior qualifying use, a creditor transfer notice granting at least a 35-day opt-out window, and reassigned-number checks within 60 days.
• Caller identity: A debt collector may not place telephone calls without meaningfully disclosing its identity, except as provided in §1006.10.
• First contact duties: Validation information must be provided either within the initial communication (by notice or oral delivery) or by a validation notice sent within five days of that initial communication.

Numbers & thresholds

Exceptions & edge cases

• Consent and courts: With the consumer's prior consent given directly to the collector — or a court of competent jurisdiction's express permission — the time/place, attorney-representation, and employment restrictions do not apply.
• Cease-letter carve-outs: Advising that collection efforts are ending, that the collector or creditor may invoke ordinarily invoked remedies, or that a specific remedy (e.g., wage garnishment or repossession) is intended remains permissible.
• Call-count safe harbors: Calls made with the person's prior consent within seven consecutive days of receiving it, unconnected calls (busy/no-answer), and calls to §1006.6(d)(1)(ii)–(vi) recipients do not count toward the frequencies; for student loans serviced under a single account number, all those debts form one "particular debt."
• Medium opt-outs: After an opt-out, the collector may still send a bare opt-out confirmation, respond once if the person initiates contact on that medium, or communicate where applicable law requires; any other use of the forbidden medium violates §1006.14(h).
• Error protection: Collectors maintaining procedures reasonably adapted to avoid emailing or texting an address or number causing prohibited disclosure preserve a bona fide error defense under FDCPA section 813(c).