Lenders and debt collectors will have to revise their operating procedures to take account of changes to the Privacy Act that will take effect next March. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have circulated a draft of new guidelines for debt collection. They are seeking comment.The regulators have taken the opportunity to do a general update to the guidelines, which are intended to help debt collectors and creditors who use debt collection agencies understand how consumer protection laws apply to them. It is also intended to serve as a reference for financial counsellors and debt advisers.A creditor may be responsible for their agent's collection activities, even if the agent acts in a way that is contrary to an agreement or understanding between the creditor and agent about how the collection is to be undertaken.A creditor may also remain liable for conduct regarding a debt, despite having sold or assigned the debt.ASIC and the ACCC have attempted to make the guide more practical, covering such topics as making contacts with debtors. Under the privacy laws, a creditor or debt collector has obligations to protect the privacy of the debtor. This means that when making direct contact the creditor or debt collector must make sure it is dealing with the debtor.Privacy restrictions apply to a debtor's business partners, spouse or other family members as much as they apply to any other third party. The draft recommends against visits to a person's home without permission, as this may raise privacy issues.Visits to a debtor's workplace should only be a last resort.The draft highlights some changes to the Privacy Act next year and the impact these changes will have on debt collection procedures. For example, collectors will be required to gather personal information about the debtor only from that individual, unless the collector can show it is unreasonable or impractical to do so.ASIC and the ACCC have broadened the scope of their advice to cover new communications technologies. Creditors and debt collectors should consider the potential audience of a given technology so as to establish a "reasonable belief" that the contact will be with the debtor only and information will not be shared by other parties (because the email used is a work email address, for example, or the contact is via a joint social media account).The draft also includes a number of case studies that highlight problems arising through misrepresentation and misleading conduct.In one case, a debt collector gave the impression that its common practice was to commence legal proceedings to recover debts when this was not true. ASIC has taken action against debt collectors that follow such a practice.In another case, a debt collector set up a fake complaints-handling organisation to give debtors the impression that disputes about liability were being assessed by an independent arbitrator.The guidelines spell out what constitutes "reasonable" contact regarding a debtor. A common complaint is that debt collectors harass debtors even when they know the debtor can't pay. The draft