Can a private investigator hired by a creditor, call all my friends and family and lie to them in order to obtain information?

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Can a private investigator hired by a creditor, call all my friends and family and lie to them in order to obtain information?

I think that a creditor has hired a private investigator, to find out personal information about me. How they got all those phone numbers, has me very upset, and that they are calling them with a lie just to get info on me. Is this legal?

Asked on December 3, 2010 under Bankruptcy Law, Michigan

Answers:

M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

Private investigators delve in to people's lives.  How some do it sometimes does border on legality.  But here you make a connection with the creditor and that may be where you have an up on them.  Creditors are limited to what they can say and do in an attempt to collect a debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  I think that if you can show the connection between the investigator and the creditor and call him or her their "agent" in this circumstance then you may have a complaint to be filed against the creditor and the investigator for a violation.  I would call the State Attorney General's Office for starters.  And then I believe the FTC.  Good luck.


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