The Federal Trade Commission announced its annual summary of activity enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:
Over the past year, the Federal Trade Commission has continued its vigorous work on behalf of U.S. consumers suffering from unlawful debt collection practices, including bringing law enforcement actions against abusive and fraudulent operations, conducting education and public outreach initiatives, and implementing research and policy programs.
Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is required to submit annual reports to Congress on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Since the CFPB and FTC jointly enforce the Act, the FTC’s summary of its own recent work on debt collection issues assists the CFPB in preparing the report to Congress.
The FTC reports that its work over the past year focused on: "1) egregious debt collection practices, including 'phantom debt collection'; 2) security of consumer data in the buying and selling of debts; and 3) protection of limited-English-proficiency consumers from illegal debt collection practices."
