Acquisition of location information (skip tracing) — §1692b

Authority

15 U.S.C. §1692b (FDCPA §804). Governs every contact with a third party made to locate the consumer. Enforced by CFPB/FTC (§1692l); privately enforceable (§1692k). "Location information" is defined at §1692a(7).

Operative text

The term "location information" means a consumer's place of abode and his telephone number at such place, or his place of employment. — 15 U.S.C. §1692a(7)

Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall—

(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;

(2) not state that such consumer owes any debt;

(3) not communicate with any such person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct or complete location information;

(4) not communicate by post card;

(5) not use any language or symbol on any envelope or in the contents of any communication effected by the mails or telegram that indicates that the debt collector is in the debt collection business or that the communication relates to the collection of a debt; and

(6) after the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with regard to the subject debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address, not communicate with any person other than that attorney, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to communication from the debt collector. — 15 U.S.C. §1692b(1)–(6)

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

Skip-trace calls to neighbors, relatives, employers, or anyone else are the ONE sanctioned form of third-party contact (§1692c(b) carves out "Except as provided in section 1692b"). The rules for that contact:

• Identify yourself (personal name) and say you're confirming/correcting location info. Name your employer only if expressly asked.
• Never mention the debt — not that one exists, not who the creditor is.
• One contact per third party — repeat contact only if the person asks you to call back or you reasonably believe their earlier answer was wrong/incomplete and they now have the correct info.
• No postcards; no envelope tells — nothing on an envelope or in mailed content that signals debt collection.
• Attorney cutoff: once you know the consumer has an attorney for this debt (and can get the attorney's name/address), all location contact routes to the attorney — unless the attorney goes unresponsive for a reasonable time.

Traps / edge cases

• The section only covers contacts for the purpose of acquiring location information. Say anything about the debt and the call is no longer a §1692b call — it becomes a prohibited third-party communication under §1692c(b) AND a §1692b(2) violation.
• Company names that telegraph collections (e.g., "ABC Collections") effectively can't be disclosed even when the third party asks for the employer without tripping (5)'s policy — courts have split; safest is a non-indicative name.
• The one-contact limit is per person, not per claim — track third-party contacts individually.
• §1692b(1)'s "only if expressly requested" makes volunteering the employer name a violation.
• §1692d(6)'s meaningful-disclosure-of-identity rule for calls explicitly excepts §1692b calls ("Except as provided in section 1692b of this title…").

Related

• Siblings: overview.md, communications.md (third-party ban this section is the exception to), harassment-abuse.md (§1692d(6) caller-ID interplay), false-misleading.md, unfair-practices.md (envelope rules)
• Reg F: ../reg-f/communications-opt-outs.md
• States: ../../state/ca.md, ../../state/ny.md, ../../state/tx.md, ../../state/fl.md, ../../state/ma.md