I was assuming communications would be private. Debt collection has a deservedly bad reputation, but I think any public communication would quickly become legally problematic. It seems like bad idea both ethically and practically if messages weren't private.

Hopefully it's private.

As far as the legal requirements, I believe in the US it's permissible for debt collectors to contact friends/family in order to get in touch with the debtor, but there are certain limitations (like they're not supposed to disclose the amount of the debt, etc).

I think you're right about the practicality issue - I doubt twitter or any other network would want anyone using their platform for that type of activity.

Even if private messaging, which social platform has bank level privacy/PII controls in place? How often are they hacked/sold/oopsied?

The Chinese courts have been exploring an _interesting_ and public method of debt collection.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-07/26/content_302507...

In India, lenders send goons to borrowers houses and sometimes thrash them. Shaming on social media is more dangerous.

In Spain and Portugal there's a company that sends people dressed in frock coats and top hats to the debtor's workplace entrance and such, to publicly shame them: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/09/spain-debt-...

When I read it, I assumed it would be private messages. If that's true, then it might be a bit like harassment, but not public shaming.

Perhaps, but on platforms like twitter where the default behavior is to only allow direct messages to mutual followers, I imagine they might use an @mention which is publicly visible - like "@newman8r - please get in contact with us, we need to discuss your car payment" - and they offer to delete the tweet after payment or something.... I guess that would be the worst case scenario. If it's just private messaging then it's not as big of a deal.

I think people can demand that debt collectors contact them only through certain types of media (email, print letters, etc.). I wonder if that applies to companies where collection hasn't gone to a debt collector...

@newman8r owes @PG&E $100 #PayYourBills

Both suck.