Twenty-eight State Attorneys General urged the CFPB to reconsider a proposed rule that "elevates the interests of the debt collection industry over consumers."
As previously covered, the CFPB proposed amending CFPB Regulation F ("Fair Debt Collection Practices Act") to clarify certain restrictions and address predatory debt collection practices. The proposal would, among other things:
- limit call attempts to seven times a week;
- require a debt collector to wait one week after speaking with a consumer before calling again;
- require debt collectors to send disclosures to consumers with debt information, such as itemizations of debt, and guidance on how consumers can respond to collection communication;
- allow emails, text messages and other new communication technologies to be used in collection communications; and
- prohibit a debt collector from suing or threatening to sue a consumer if the statute of limitations has expired.
In their comment letter to the CFPB, the State Attorneys General argued that the proposal falls short on the "most critical issues." According to the Attorneys General, the proposal would allow debt collectors to:
- call a consumer seven times per week for each debt the consumer has in collection;
- send an unlimited amount of messages via electronic communication;
- infringe upon consumers' privacy rights;
- take advantage of consumers who do not understand their rights or obligations; and
- easily file lawsuits on a massive scale.
The Attorneys General commended the CFPB for: (i) treating unanswered calls the same as answered calls concerning the frequency with which debt collectors are allowed to contact consumers, (ii) preventing debt collectors from reporting debts to credit reporting agencies without attempting to collect the debt first, and (iii) not preventing states from implementing their laws if they are more protective of consumers than the proposal.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.