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DBA SPEAKER INCLUDED IN ‘LAST WEEK TONIGHT’ EPISODE SPEAKS OUT
- At least one of the industry professionals who were mentioned in the “Last Week Tonight” episode that aired on Sunday night “profiling” the debt buying industry is speaking out. Howard Weber, a lawyer who was taped during a presentation he made at the DBA International conference in Las Vegas in February, said he was contacted late last week to notify him that he was being included in the episode, and he said he thought it would help the industry by having at least one person try to defend it. Meanwhile, at least one mainstream media outlet has seen the stunt that host John Oliver pulled for what it is — a stunt. At the end of the episode, Oliver details how a company was set up and then subsequently purchased nearly $15 million in out-of-statute medical debt. The portfolio was transferred to an organization that specializes in debt forgiveness and the debts were wiped off the consumers’ reports. But while Oliver was hopping around saying that this was the “largest giveaway in the history of television,” it really wasn’t. While the unpaid principal balance of the portfolio was nearly $15 million, the actual amount that someone would have collected would have been far less.
BANKING TRADE GROUPS CALL OUT FCC FOR PROPOSED ROBOCALL RULE
- The American Bankers Association and Consumer Bankers Association have filed a joint comment with the Federal Communications Commission regarding the proposed rule that would allow the use of autodialer technology to contact individuals with delinquent or defaulted debt that is guaranteed by the federal government, such as student loans. The trade groups claim that the FCC is undermining what Congress intended with the allowance by not going far enough and urged the regulator to “apply the exemption as expansively as Congress intended.”
ACA PUBLISHES WHITEPAPER CALLING FOR TCPA MODERNIZATION
- ACA International has released a whitepaper that details all the reasons why the Telephone Consumer Protection Act needs to be modernized. Both businesses and consumers would benefit from an overhaul of the law, according to the whitepaper. While not getting into too many specifics as to what changes should be made, the whitepaper’s addressing of certain issues, such as the statutory penalties that end up benefiting plaintiffs’ lawyers more than individuals and the fact that the TCPA was created years before texting, email, and mobile phones were invented as indicators of the changes it would like to see made.
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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide.
