Category Archives: Debt Collection

How Effective Are Threats in Debt Collection? Experiment Finds Threats of Prosecution for Nonpayment of Taxes More Effective Than Other Messsages Tested

Bloomberg reports in a story headlined How Detroit Deadbeats Taught Tax Collectors That Threats Really Work, on a study by Ben S. Meiselman titled Ghostbusting in Detroit: Evidence on Nonfilers from a Controlled Field Experiment.  No wonder some debt collectors use threats!

SCOTUS to Hear Oral Arguments Today in Henson v. Santander, FDCPA Case

Law360's Evan Weinberger reports here (behind paywall). The case will decide whether debt buyers that don't have debt collection as their principal purpose, because, as in Santander's case, the debt buying unit is part of a multipurpose financial institution, are covered by the FDCPA. If the debt buyer wins, will we see debt buyers join with […]

NerdWallet Story on IRS’s Use of Private Debt Collectors

Here.  Excerpt: Debt collectors will be required to comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which is designed to curtail abusive or deceptive behavior. * * * Critics say collection agencies have been known to call delinquent debtors six or more times a week, give inaccurate information and use dubious methods to force payment. […]

NerdWallet Article Explores What CFPB Has Done to Help Consumers

Brad Wolverton's article, Your Wallet Will Suffer If This Agency Is Gutted, is an excellent roundup of the Bureau's accomplishments that cuts across a variety of areas, including student loans, credit cards, debt collection, mortgages, payday loans, credit reporting agencies, auto lending, consumer complaints, military protections, and arbitration. Excerpt: Collectively, for every $1 in federal spending on […]

Pacer Monitor: Challenges to Consumer Debt Regulations Have Legal Scholars on High Alert

Here. Excerpt: [T]here are three cases before the Supreme Court at various stages that not only deal with the CFPB, but with federal regulations that some fear that Trump's nominee, Neil McGill Gorsuch, currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, will have no patience with. Correction: An earlier version […]

Trump Names as FCC Chair Ajit Pai, Critic of FCC TCPA Interpretations

Here. Pai, a Republican, has been critical of FCC interpretations of the TCPA (see here and here). Here's the perspective of ACA International, an industry organization : Of particular importance to the credit and collection industry, Pai has fiercely objected to the FCC’s more recent interpretations of the TCPA spearheaded by Wheeler.  Authoring a hard-hitting […]