Where Radius Global Solutions meets the definition of a debt collector in 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6), federal law sets rules for how a collector must behave. A collector generally must send written details of the debt, stop collecting if a written dispute arrives within 30 days until it verifies the debt, and avoid harassing, false or unfair practices.
A call or letter about a debt can arrive unexpectedly. A consumer may recognize the account right away, may not have heard of the creditor, or may wonder whether the caller is real. The questions underneath are usually the same: who is this, is the debt actually mine, and what is this company allowed to do?
This page explains those questions through the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). It describes what the law requires of a collector of this type. It does not describe how this company behaves in any particular case.
What Radius Global Solutions Is
Radius Global Solutions is a name a consumer may see on a call or letter about a past-due account. Whether the federal rules for debt collectors apply to a company turns on the definition of a debt collector.
The FDCPA defines a debt collector in 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6) as any person "in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another." The statute lists people it excludes, such as a creditor's own employees collecting in the creditor's name.
A "debt," under 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(5), means an obligation or alleged obligation arising from a transaction primarily for personal, family or household purposes. Business debts fall outside the Act.
One point comes before anything else. A call or letter from a debt collector does not, by itself, mean the debt is valid, that the amount is right or that the person contacted owes it. The FDCPA gives a consumer ways to find out.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) explains on its page What is a debt collector and why are they contacting me? that a collector may be reaching out because a creditor believes a consumer is past due, because a debt buyer bought the debt, or because the collector is trying to locate someone the consumer knows. Creditors, the CFPB says, "may use their own in-house debt collectors or may refer or sell your debt to an outside debt collector."
Contact can also come from a mistake. A collector may have the wrong person's phone number. A credit file can mix up two people with similar names or Social Security numbers, which is called a mixed file. Identity theft can put a stranger's account under someone else's name.
The call itself neither confirms nor rules out any of those situations. The written details and verification rights covered below are how a consumer can tell them apart.
Is Radius Global Solutions a Legitimate Debt Collector?
"Legitimate" can mean two different things. One question is whether the caller is a real collection company. The other is whether this particular debt, in this amount, belongs to this person. A yes to the first says nothing about the second.
Fake collectors exist. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), on its Debt Collection FAQs page, warns about debt collection scammers and suggests not sharing personal or financial information "until you've gotten validation information or are already familiar with the collector."
That validation information is the clearest dividing line. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a), a debt collector must send a written notice within five days after its first communication about a debt, unless the information was in that first communication or the consumer has paid. The notice must state the amount of the debt, the creditor's name and the consumer's right to dispute. Its full contents are listed in the next section.
A consumer who has not received that notice, or who gets a call demanding immediate payment without naming the creditor, may ask for written information before deciding anything.
Your Rights Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Congress passed the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692–1692p, "to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors," according to 15 U.S.C. § 1692(e). It is the main federal law for third-party collectors.
Validation. The § 1692g notice must contain five things: the amount of the debt; the creditor's name; a statement that the debt will be assumed valid unless disputed within 30 days of receiving the notice; a statement that a written dispute in that period will lead the collector to obtain and mail verification or a copy of a judgment; and a statement that, on written request in that period, the collector will provide the original creditor's name and address if different. Those are the statute's items; Regulation F, 12 C.F.R. part 1006, adds further requirements for the validation information.
Stopping contact. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(c), if a consumer notifies a collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay or wants communication to stop, the collector generally may not communicate further about that debt. The exceptions let it say its efforts are ending, or notify the consumer that it or the creditor may invoke, or intends to invoke, a specified remedy. A mailed notice is complete on receipt.
Third parties. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b), without the consumer's prior consent, a court's permission, or a postjudgment need, and apart from locating the consumer, a collector generally may not discuss the debt with anyone except the consumer, the consumer's attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the creditor's attorney or the collector's attorney. The rules for debt collectors calling family build on this.
Prohibited conduct. Three sections set broad limits. 15 U.S.C. § 1692d bars conduct whose natural consequence is to harass, oppress or abuse, including threats of violence, obscene language and calling repeatedly with intent to annoy. 15 U.S.C. § 1692e bars false, deceptive or misleading representations, including misstating a debt's amount or legal status. 15 U.S.C. § 1692f bars unfair or unconscionable means, including collecting amounts not authorized by the agreement or by law.
Whether particular conduct violates any of these sections depends on the facts.
Disputing a Debt with Radius Global Solutions
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b), if a consumer disputes the debt, or any part of it, in writing within the 30-day period, the collector must stop collecting the debt or the disputed part until it obtains verification or a copy of a judgment and mails it to the consumer. The same applies to a written request for the original creditor's name and address. Collection that otherwise complies with the law may continue during the 30 days unless a written dispute or request arrives, and it may not overshadow the consumer's dispute rights.
A dispute sent after the 30-day window does not trigger that required pause. Even so, 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(c) says a consumer's failure to dispute "may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability."
A collection account can also appear on a consumer report, the file a credit bureau sells about a person. A consumer reporting agency is a company that assembles those reports, such as Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. A furnisher is the business, including a collector, that sends account information to it.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a), when a consumer disputes the accuracy or completeness of an item directly with the agency, it must, free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, a fresh check of the item, and record its current status or delete it within 30 days of receiving the dispute, unless it reasonably determines the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant. That period may extend up to 15 more days if the consumer sends relevant information during it, subject to limits. The agency must notify the furnisher within five business days. The Experian dispute process is one example.
Calls and Texts from Radius Global Solutions: What the TCPA Covers
Repeated calls are often what sends a person searching a company's name, and two federal laws speak to them.
The TCPA, 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii), makes it unlawful to make any call using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice to a number assigned to a paging, cellular telephone, specialized mobile radio or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call, unless the call is made for emergency purposes or with the prior express consent of the called party. Prior express consent means the person called agreed beforehand to receive such calls. The statute's text also contains an exception for certain federal government debt collection calls, but the Supreme Court held that exception invalid and severed it in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, No. 19-631 (July 6, 2020).
A consumer receiving automated or prerecorded calls on a cell phone without having given prior express consent may have rights under the TCPA, depending on the equipment used and the facts.
The FDCPA adds timing rules. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(1), a collector may not contact a consumer at an unusual or inconvenient time or place without consent or a court's permission. Absent other knowledge, it must assume convenient hours are after 8 a.m. and before 9 p.m. local time.
Whether a given call or text violates either statute depends on the facts.
CFPB Complaints and Regulatory Background
Two federal agencies give consumers a direct way to report a debt collection problem. The CFPB's page states: "If you're having issues with debt collection, you can submit a complaint with the CFPB."
The FTC's Debt Collection FAQs list three places to report problems with a debt collector: a state attorney general's office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The same page notes that many states "have their own debt collection laws that are different from federal laws,"
A complaint is a report to a government agency. It is separate from a private lawsuit and separate from a dispute under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g or 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a). A consumer may use one, several or none of these options, and each has its own process. A complaint, by itself, does not settle whether a debt is owed or whether any law was broken.
Remedies the FDCPA Provides
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a), a debt collector that fails to comply with the FDCPA may be liable for any actual damage the person sustained as a result, additional damages the court may allow up to $1,000 in an individual action, and, in a successful action, costs and a reasonable attorney's fee set by the court. Each depends on proof: actual damages require harm caused by the failure, and additional damages are up to the court, which considers the frequency, persistence and nature of the noncompliance and whether it was intentional.
The statute also limits liability. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c), a collector is not liable if it shows the violation was unintentional and resulted from a bona fide error despite procedures reasonably adapted to avoid it. A court may award fees to the collector if an action was brought in bad faith to harass. The FTC notes that a person may still owe the debt even if a court finds a violation.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d), an action must be brought within one year from the date the violation occurs. More on consumer lawsuits under federal law is available on this site, alongside the agency complaints described above.
A collection call can involve more than one law at once: the validation and dispute timeline under the FDCPA, a possible credit-report entry under the FCRA, and the calls themselves under the TCPA. This page explains the federal rules in general. It does not address bankruptcy, debt settlement or any state's own collection law.
A consumer may request a consumer rights case review through Federal Consumer Rights.
