North Carolina General Statutes 75-53. Unreasonable publication
No debt collector shall unreasonably publicize information regarding a consumer‘s debt. Such unreasonable publication includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) Any communication with any person other than the debtor or his attorney, except:
a. To designated third parties with the written permission of the debtor or his attorney.
b. To persons employed by the debt collector, to a credit reporting agency, to a person or business employed to collect the debt on behalf of the creditor, or to a person who makes a legitimate request for the information.
c. To the spouse (or one who stands in place of the spouse) of the debtor, or to the parent or guardian of the debtor if the debtor is a minor and lives in the same household with such parent. If the debt collector has a good faith belief that the exception set forth in this sub-subdivision applies to a particular communication, that communication shall not be a violation of this sub-subdivision.
d. For the sole purpose of obtaining location information about the debtor, if no indication of indebtedness is made. A debt collector making a communication under this sub-subdivision shall:
1. Identify himself or herself, state that he or she is attempting to confirm or correct location information about the debtor, and, only if expressly requested to do so, identify his or her employer.
2. Not state that the debtor owes a debt.
3. Not communicate with any particular person more than once per week or a total of three times during any 30-day period unless requested to do so by the person.
e. Through legal process.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 75-53
- Consumer: means any natural person who has incurred a debt or alleged debt for personal, family, household or agricultural purposes. See North Carolina General Statutes 75-50
- Debt: means any obligation owed or due or alleged to be owed or due from a consumer. See North Carolina General Statutes 75-50
- Debt collector: means any person engaging, directly or indirectly, in debt collection from a consumer except those persons subject to the provisions of Article 70, Chapter 58 of the N. See North Carolina General Statutes 75-50
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Location information: means information about a consumer's place of abode, any telephone numbers used by the consumer, and information about the consumer's place of employment. See North Carolina General Statutes 75-50
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
(2) Using any form of communication which ordinarily would be seen or heard by any person other than the consumer that displays or conveys any information about the alleged debt other than the name, address and phone number of the debt collector except as otherwise provided in this Article.
(3) Disclosing any information relating to a consumer’s debt by publishing or posting any list of consumers, except for credit reporting purposes and the publication and distribution of otherwise permissible “stop lists” to the point-of-sale locations where credit is extended, or by advertising for sale any claim to enforce payment thereof or in any other manner other than through legal process. (1977, c. 747, s. 4; 1979, c. 910; 2015-177, s. 2.)