Gatchalian warns abusive debt collectors

To protect ordinary Filipino borrowers from harassment and unethical practices perpetuated by predatory lenders, Senator Win Gatchalian moved to regulate the debt collecting practices of financing and lending companies.

Gatchalian, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, has filed Senate Bill No. 1366 (SBN 1366) or "The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act," which will prohibit and eliminate the use of abusive, deceptive and unfair debt collection practices by debt collectors.

In filing Senate Bill No. 1366, Gatchalian cited numerous complaints that his office has been receiving about harassments and similar schemes that financing and lending companies and their third-party service providers employ just so they can press borrowers to pay their debts. In some cases, the senator pointed out that a collection agent would threaten to disclose the borrower's indebtedness on social media or make it appear that a formal complaint has been filed against the borrower.

"This measure aims to eliminate, if not minimize, unfair and abusive debt collection practices conducted by debt collectors against consumer-borrowers by providing allowable means to acquire location information of the borrower and enumerating prohibited acts," Gatchalian said.

"It likewise places the debt collector and the consumer-borrower in the same level playing field as the measure provides adequate legal remedies to borrowers who are victims of these wayward practices," he added.

The bill prohibits debt collectors from harassing, oppressing, or abusing any debtor, as well as use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt.

Creditors are mandated to keep confidential all borrowers' data except when there's written consent of the borrower. Under the proposed measure, a debt collector must provide the debtor on request a complete accounting of all the details of the debt and, if such an accounting is not in the possession of the debt collector, the agency must request that the creditor should provide it.

Aside from protecting borrowers from unethical and unfair means of collecting debt, the bill also aims to protect those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices and make sure they are not competitively disadvantaged, according to the lawmaker.

The measure proposes a maximum penalty of P30,000 as redress, aside from any actual damage sustained by the borrower.

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Gatchalian nagbabala sa abusadong debt collectors

Ngayon pa lang ay dapat nang magdalawang isip ang mga abusadong nagpapautang at nangongolekta ng utang dahil mananagot kayo sa batas pag nagkataon.

Inihain ni Gatchalian kamakailan ang Senate Bill No. 1336 o ang "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act" na magbabawal sa paggamit ng di makatarungan, mapanlinlang at abusadong pangongolekta at paniningil ng utang sa bansa.

Sinabi ni Gatchalian na ang panukalang batas na ito ay bunga ng mga samut-saring reklamo na natatanggap ng kanyang opisina kung saan ang ibang biktima ay tinatakot na hiyain sa social media dahil sa kanilang pagkakautang o kaya naman ay palalabasin na sila'y hinabla ng kanilang pinagkakautangan.

"Layunin ng panukalang batas na ito ang pagtanggal ng abusado at hindi makatarungang pangungulekta ng debt collectors ng utang laban sa mga kababayan nating nangangailangan," ani Gatchalian.

Dagdag pa niya, "sinisiguro din ng naturang panukalang batas na maprotektahan naman ang mga debt collector na hindi nang-aabuso."

Ayon sa panukalang batas ni Gatchalian, pinagbabawalan ang sino man na taga singil ng utang na mang harass o mang-api ng mga taong may utang, kasama na din dito ang paggamit ng mapanlinlang na representasyon o pamamaraan ng pangongolekta ng utang.

Layon ng naturang panukala na siguruhing confidential ang lahat ng impormasyon ng mga umutang, maliban na lamang kung merong pahintulot ng nangutang. Kapag naisabatas na, papatawan ng P30,000 na maximum penalty, kasama na ang aktwal na damages, ang sinumang lumabag nito.

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