FILE – In this Sept. 28, 2011, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at Benjamin …

APNewsBreak: Obama seeks debt collector proposal

Fri, Aug 5, 2011
By DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON (AP) — To the dismay of consumer groups and the discomfort of Democrats, President Barack Obama wants Congress to make it easier for private debt collectors to call the cellphones of consumers delinquent on student loans and other billions owed the federal government.

The “change” “is expected to provide substantial increases in collections, particularly as an increasing share of households no longer have landlines and rely instead on cellphones,” the administration wrote recently. The little-noticed recommendation would apply only to cases in which money is owed the government, and is tucked into the mammoth $3 trillion deficit-reduction plan the president submitted to Congress.

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-obama-seeks-debt-collector-proposal-070358654.html