my neighbors know

[allaloneinny]

What is the name of your state? new york. I am currently behind on my mortgage payments. the mortgage company is based in arizona. i just started receiving help from dss and a local charity and have enrolled with a credit counseling center.i have been unemployed for three months my husband is selfemployed but business has severely dropped off. i am currently under treatment for depression.the mortgage company i don't know how they got the information, has contacted the people in the houses around us on this block. they ask or so they say for them to bring messages to us,if we are still living here or if the property is abandoned. our case worker talked to them the previous week maybe five days before about us. we signed a bond of mortgage to make up the back payments. my question is is it legal for the mortgage company to contact our neighbors? i spoke to someone at our mortgage company yesterday and they said they didn't tell them we were behind but they knew the people they contacted would know that was why they were calling and they didn't care.help!

 

[JETX]

"my question is is it legal for the mortgage company to contact our neighbors?"
*** Yes. For two reasons.
1) The 'no contact' restriction you may be thinking of (in the FDCPA) only applies to third party collectors and not the original creditors. Your mortgage holder is a current creditor.
2) The FDCPA 'no contact' restriction against 3rd party collectors is only as to releasing information about the debt to them. The collector can contact your neighbors in attempting to locate you.
Here is the applicable portion of the FDCPA:
"§ 804. Acquisition of location information [15 USC 1692b]
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;"

 

[allaloneinny]

they were not asked who they were. the mortgage company just told them who they were and then asked my neighbors to bring me a message that they called who it was that called and the phone number. the mortgage company did this,my neighbors never asked to be involved or for any information from them. you're telling me all they could do was ask if i still resided here correct?

 

[JETX]

"you're telling me all they could do was ask if i still resided here correct?"
*** No. As noted in my previous post, since this is the original creditor who made the contact(s) they have NO obligation to abide by the FDCPA.