A number of representatives from the credit and collection industry filed their comments in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed debt collection rule yesterday, and many more are expected to do so in the two days left before the comment period expires.
Among those that submitted comments yesterday were:
- PDCflow
- DAKCS Software Systems
- Professional Finance Company
- Check Into Cash
- Eastern Revenue
- New Jersey Creditor’s Bar Association
- Miller & Steeno
- Laura Benavidez
As well, seven different employees from Express Recovery Services filed their own comments. They primarily expressed support for the proposal that would allow collectors to leave a “limited content message” that would not be subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Wrote Chris Gray, for example, “As for the voice mails proposal, I really like that you are possibly giving us the option to leave voice mails I don’t know how many times I have had consumers call in and ask why we don’t leave voice mails and that they usually don’t answer the phone to an unrecognized number. Most consumers say they would have called back if we just left a message. Not being able to leave messages can have a negative impact on the consumer because if they don’t know that we are trying to get ahold of them and the debt goes unpaid it can have negative impacts on their credit and can cause the accounts to be forwarded out to our attorney’s office. So being able to leave messages will help the consumer to avoid those negative impacts. “
Also yesterday, Mark Neeb, the chief executive of ACA International, said while speaking at the Northeast Debt Collection Expo in Atlantic City that ACA’s comment letter was at least 150 pages long as it puts the finishing touches on its thoughts about the proposed rule.
In its comment, Professional Finance Company included data about how much it costs the agency to respond to disputes and how much it will cost should the CFPB move forward with a proposal to disclose the itemization date of the debt. Only 17% of the agency’s customers include such information in their files, the agency said in its comment. It would cost the agency as much as $31,000 to implement the changes necessary to include this information in disclosures, the agency said.
