Mortgage lenders in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and England have begun serving foreclosure notices to homeowners through Facebook, a practice that has been endorsed by banks, lawmakers and in some cases even borrowers in those parts of the world.
According to lenders in some cases they are able to receive immediate responses from Facebook users when other more traditional forms of communication have failed, responses that allow them to move forward with foreclosure proceedings at a faster rate.
One big endorser of the program is Facebook with a spokesperson noting that the site when used properly can be “a reliable, secure, and private medium for communication.”
While some Facebook users may not appreciate being contacted about the homes they have walked away from, privacy comes down to the contracts they have signed, in some cases mortgage lenders have already begun requiring that borrowers sign documents in which all forms of electronic communication are permitted by the borrowing party in the event of missed payments and foreclosure.