Consumers increasingly expect to have access to information and the ability to conduct business at the time and place of their choosing, whether shopping for goods and services or managing their finances. Often, that means they expect service providers to communicate with them by email, text or other electronic means.
These expectations are changing the business of debt collection, as a growing number of debtors look for alternative channels of communication rather than the traditional mail and telephone exchanges the industry has relied on for decades. As the industry looks to keep pace with changing consumer preferences, it faces legal questions that don’t always have clear answers.