Debt collection and bailiffs

You must not communicate with a debtor either by phone or in person on a statutory holiday, on a Sunday between 1 pm and 5 pm local time, or any other day between 9 pm to 7 am.

You are not allowed to:

1. use threatening, profane or intimidating language
2. exert undue, excessive or unreasonable pressure to collect a debt
3. publish or threaten to publish the debtor’s failure to pay (except to a credit reporting agency)
4. call too frequently as this can be considered harassment

You are only allowed to contact a debtor’s family or household, relative, neighbour, friend, employer or acquaintance to try to get their home address, phone number or email.

By law, a debtor can request to be contacted in writing only. After receiving this letter, you are not allowed to contact them by telephone.

You must send a debtor a written notice about their debt before you can start calling. There are two exceptions to this rule:

1. You can make a reasonable effort to call the debtor before sending them a written notice about the debt only to confirm their correct contact information.
2. If you have bought the debt from the creditor, then you become the creditor and aren’t required to send the debtor a written notification first (which means that you can begin calling them right away).