CFPB To Go After Debt Collectors

It is hard to imagine a less sympathetic constituency than debt collectors.  They harass at all hours of the night and have no concern for the underlying validity of the debt they’ve been assigned to collect.  So hopefully this effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be widely supported.

Harassing and threatening phone calls, inaccurate demands, and failure to send notices are just a few examples of the many abuses chronicled in consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about debt collectors.  In response to these reports of potential misconduct, the CFPB has issued a preliminary announcement that it plans to overhaul the regulatory framework governing debt collection.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray stated that the Bureau is seeking comments “about what works and what does not in the current debt collection market.”  Specifically, the CFPB seeks comments on how debt collectors should maintain accurate account information and how they should inform consumers of their rights and obligations.  The agency also seeks comments on whether it should update its regulations to reflect advances in communication.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.