Last month the National Consumer Law Center (“NCLC”) published a report entitled “Debt Collection Communications: Protecting Consumers in the Digital Age” and submitted it to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) for consideration in their upcoming Debt Collection Rulemaking.
The NCLC’s report recommends that the CFPB issue regulations to:
- Provide a specific limit for the number of telephone calls to consumers;
- Prohibit calls or text messages to cell phones without consumer opt-in;
- Require that collectors provide consumers with notice of consumers’ right to stop collection communications and honor that request when made orally by consumers;
- Strictly limit communication to consumers at their workplace;
- Strictly limit the timing of permissible calls and texts for collection purposes, and ensure correct timing for the consumer’s location;
- Clarify that any communication by a debt collector that can be viewed by others online (e.g. posts to social media, bulletin boards, chat rooms, or blogs) is prohibited;
- Require consumer opt-in before debt collectors can send email or fax communications;
- Prohibit voicemail messages unless the consumer consents or the voicemail is clearly set up to be heard only by the consumer.
Digging further into the NCLC’s recommendations regarding providing a specific limit for the number of telephone calls to consumers, the NCLC recommends: a limit of three calls per week, each time a debt collector causes the consumer’s phone to ring would count as a call, and Calling the consumer at any of the consumer’s phone numbers counts towards the three call limit per week. The restriction on calls or text to consumer cell phones would also significantly hurt the industry, as debt collectors would not even be able to manually dial consumer numbers under the proposed regulation without the consumer’s opt-in.
Clearly if these recommendations are adopted by the CFPB, it would greatly restrict the debt collection industries’ ability to contact debtors, and would likely decrease their ability to collect on lawfully owed debts. It is now more important than ever for the industry to ensure its voice is heard during the rule making process, to ensure reasonable regulations are enacted that balance the rights of the creditors and debtors.