The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week quietly released a new update to Regulation F, one that many in the industry had been anxiously awaiting as the countdown to November 30 gets smaller and smaller. The CFPB released a Spanish-language translation of its Model Validation Notice, which collectors can choose to use if they elect to do so.
A .pdf version of the Model Validation Notice in Spanish is available by clicking here.
In publishing the form, the CFPB acknowledged that anyone using it is eligible to receive a safe harbor from the requirement in Regulation F that translated information be “complete and accurate.”
Debt collectors may send a validation notice that is “completely and accurately” translated into any language, as long as the collector also either sends an English language version in the same communication or previously provided the consumer with an English language version in a prior communication.
Many in the industry had been awaiting the release of a Spanish version of the Model Validation Notice. There were some who were considering making their own translated versions, but concerns about the specific language that would be deemed to be “complete and accurate” had given those collectors pause about doing the translation on their own.
The translated Model Validation Notice includes the optional disclosures that are allowed to be included on the document while still affording the sender the safe harbor protections that are included in Regulation F. The CFPB did note that the translated version does not include the disclosure informing consumers of their right to request the validation notice in Spanish, “because no translation of those disclosures is necessary.” Collectors can choose to include the optional Spanish-language disclosures in a Spanish-language validation notice and still retain the safe harbor, if the collector so chooses.
