Hours after it was announced that it was being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for violating the terms of a consent order that was entered into in 2015, Encore Capital Group released the following statement:
“Encore is built on a foundation of treating our consumers fairly and respectfully,” said Greg Call, the Company’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Administrative Officer. “Our efforts in 2015 to implement the CFPB’s new requirements under the consent order were quite thorough and effective, but for a very small percentage of transactions our execution was not immediately perfect. We have long since refined our processes, making the necessary changes to improve our operations, and provided appropriate relief for impacted accounts over three years ago.”
Ryan Bell, President of Midland Credit Management, said, “We have great confidence in our systems, practices and approach to working with consumers. We’ve invested heavily for years to build robust compliance functions that lead our highly regulated and swiftly evolving industry. We operate with a Consumer Bill of Rights, which details our commitment to conducting business ethically. We believe we’re well-positioned to continue our industry leadership because of our commitment to the consumer and our unwavering focus on compliance.”
“We are disappointed that the CFPB has chosen to file this lawsuit on outdated issues, but we will continue to engage with the CFPB and work to ensure that we maintain policies and practices that fully comply with all applicable legal requirements. We believe that there will be no material operational impact as a result of the suit,” said Call. “We fully corrected the issues underlying the allegations in this lawsuit years ago and are unaware of any unresolved consumer impact.”
