A few years ago, my wife and I leased a sport utility vehicle. When the lease was up, we weren’t what to do, so the lender offered to extend the lease for a month. After a month, we still has not made up our minds and we asked for another one month extension. A month later, we were still hmming and hawing and asked for another extension. Ok, the lender told us, but this was going to be the last one. Three extensions was the maximum number they offered. I tell this story because collectors in Nevada might be able to relate to it, after the state’s Department of Business and Industry has extended the guidance allowing collectors to work from home again, this time until December 31.
But, the department warned in a memo that was sent out last Friday, this is the last time that the guidance is going to be extended.
“As Nevada continues to work through these unprecedented times and ever-changing conditions, NFID has decided to grant an extension to the temporary guidance regarding working from home until December 31, 2020, unless otherwise modified or withdrawn at the discretion of the Commissioner,” the guidance stated, all the way at the bottom of the memo. “The NFID may not extend this guidance past December; therefore, it is imperative that the collection agency begin making plans to ensure it can both comply with Nevada law and the laws of the other jurisdictions it does business in.”
After initially recommending that all collection agencies close for a period of 30 days when it shut down non-essential businesses in March, the state allowed collection agencies to re-open in June, and gave them permission to allow collectors to work from home. Since then, the state regulator has continued to allow collectors to work remotely to help people manage their actions during the coronavirus pandemic. But that allowance appears to be coming to a close in just over three months.
As if to reinforce that this was never going to be permanent, the memo closes with, “Questions regarding this Temporary Guidance may be directed to fidmaster@fid.state.nv.us.”
