A collection agency contacted my boss - is that legal???

Yesterday, a collection agency called my boss's work extension, saying they were trying to collect from me and that this was the number I gave for work number. I never gave his extension so I think they just chose different extenstions till they got somebody.

They were asking him questions about my employment. He was really unhappy.

Is it legal what they did? Should they have called him at all? What about identifying themselves as a collection agency trying to collect from me? Can they do that?

They knew it was my boss because he identified himself as such.

If this wasn't legal, what recourse should I take?

Thanks!

slimick answer is correct, Once i had a collector get ahold of me about one of my associates and he kept on digging into employeement history, pay, title. I was thinking it was a recuitor and our company dose not give that info anyway. Well he called again telling me so and so is in big trouble, then it got rediciouls were he called 3 times a day, i finally told him never to call her again. He got cocky and said its a free country, well we got our coporate lawyers on board with this on. I got a call from his boss really fast appoligzing telling me the collector dose not work there anymore. Talk to your boss, they can put a end to this right away. If you really want him to stop contact with you send this letter. Send it certifed and if they contact you at home work and where you will win a lawsuit worth 1k.

Your name
Your street address
Your city
Date

RE: Account no.

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is to request you to CEASE and DESIST from your efforts of collecting debt payments on the above referred account. I would like to work with the original creditor of the account rather than collection agencies.

You are hereby instructed in accordance with the federal and state laws, to stop all collection efforts immediately or face legal sanctions.

,

Your Signature
Your Name

This link has answers to more questions than you can think of.

yes it is illegal. you can turn them into the FTC and Better Business bureau

Actually it is legal as long as all they asked about were your employment or where you live.

Any other questions or threats are a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act and can be reported to the F.T.C. at 1-877-382-4357.

It's legal for them to contact you at work unless you inform them that your employer disapproves.

The obvious recourse you should take is to pay your debt.

Anytime an original creditor sells your account to a 3rd-Party collection agency, you are automatically covered under the Fair Debt Collection Act, which is a federal law that governs the behavior of collection agencies.

- Per the Fair Debt Collection Act a collection agent can only contact 3rd-parties if they are unable to reach you...and their contact is limited only to leaving messages for you to call-back or to request your phone number. They cannot discuss why they are calling and they absolutely cannot discuss your debt.

Send them a Registered Letter with Return Receipt stating: Per the Fair Debt Collection Act you are to cease communicating with me a work. I will not tolerate Fair Debt Collection Act violations in this matter.

A debt collector may not contact the consumer at his or her place of employment if the collector has reason to believe the employer prohibits such communications.

The debt collector must give his or her name and must state that he or she is confirming or correcting information about the consumer鈥檚 location. Unless specifically asked, the debt collector may not name the collection firm or agency or reveal that the consumer owes any debt.

please review the following link regarding your rights and recourse, if any. Good Luck.

First off I would write a limited cease and desist letter to them, basically saying " Any telephone calls to my work place and my home are inconvenient at all times, all correspondence must be sent through the U.S. Postal service." Send this letter by certified mail (so you get a written receipt of delivery). They are then allowed to contact you once more stating that they received your c&d letter, after that they are then in voilation of the law. And no, by my understanding, they are not permitted to contact a 3rd party regarding your debt, they can ask for you, but they can not disclose any information regarding the debt. Go to www.creditboards.com it is a great web site for consumer debt.

If you have the full amount of money to pay the O/C do it now (some will not pull your file back from the collectors though).
Otherwise, it's not a good thing to do a full c&d, a limited one will do the job and will give you time to save up the money that you owe without getting sued.

Just wanted to agree with Slimick! It is the correct answer.