continued from page 17
holding the gun used in the
multiple robberies. He
was wearing some of the
same clothing used in the
robbery and was seen on
security footage. (see page 19,
time learning about them.
People, including debtors,
spend many hours on these
sites and know how to use
them. People will post
employers, addresses, updated
emails, and phone numbers.
note 4)
In Houston TX, a man stole a
luxury car and then posted the
pictures of the keys, as well as
his location, on Facebook.
Police were able to locate and
arrest him on the spot. (see page
19, note 5)
There haven’t been any
regulations applied to using
social media. But, because
social media has become a
normal outlet, it is now subject
to increased scrutiny. There
have been instances where
collectors used social media
and it has resulted in lawsuits.
Since then, there are more
regulations coming.
The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB)
and the Federal Financial
Institution Examination
Council (FFIEC) have released
a guide on social media and its
use within collections. (see page
19, note 6) This 19-page
document outlines the process
that was used to determine the
guidelines as well as what
those guidelines are. This all
started in January of 2013,
when the FFIEC came up with
these guidelines and asked
for feedback.
Within this guide is an outline
of how to use social media
within collections and continue
to protect your clients and
yourself. Some of these
things are skip tracing,
accepting payments, verifying
employment and
verifying addresses.
Do you use Google Alerts? This
is a cool feature and it’s free.
You set these up so that when
the debtor is mentioned on the
web somewhere, you’ll be
notified. These are free and
easy to use. They can track
keywords, names, company
names or executive names.
You’ll receive an email when
the information you entered
is mentioned in any
story, anywhere.
More and more, courts are
allowing Facebook posts to be
admissible in court. Since
people don’t realize there are
privacy settings or don’t care,
they tend to post things that
could reflect negatively or be
used against them later.
Lanie James, with Chesapeake
Energy in OKC, spoke to a
group of private investigators in
OKC recently. She stated that
“Many social media outlets now
include geo-tracking software
that allows members to sign in
at different establishments
such as bowling alle