Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: FTC reports on 2014 fair debt collection enforcement efforts, (Feb 9, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The FTC has issued a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) outlining its 2014 enforcement efforts with regard to fair debt collection practices. The Commission’s letter is aimed at assisting the CFPB with preparing its annual report to Congress concerning the federal government’s efforts to implement the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

According to the FTC’s letter, its debt collection program is a three-pronged effort consisting of: (1) vigorous law enforcement; (2) education and public outreach; and (3) research and policy initiatives. The letter reports that the Commission employed all three prongs of its program in 2014 to curb unlawful debt collection practices and protect consumers.

Specifically, the Commission’s law enforcement activities included the filing of 10 new cases against 56 defendants, involving deceptive, unfair, and abusive debt collector conduct; abusive debt collection operations that targeted Spanish-speaking consumers; phantom debt collectors that attempted to collect on debts that do not exist or are not owed; and debt sellers that allegedly posted sensitive personal information of over 70,000 consumers. Nine cases were resolved in 2014, resulting in nearly $140 million in judgments. The Commission has collected $16.5 million of those judgments to date. Additionally, 47 companies and individuals have been banned from future work in debt collection.

The FTC also submitted two amicus briefs in 2014, urging the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to find that a consumer dunning letter that contained a time-limited settlement offer could violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; and urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reject an interpretation of the phrase “initial communication” that was overly narrow and contravened the text of, and legislative intent behind, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

In support of its education and public outreach efforts, the Commission reports that it has reached tens of millions of consumers through print and online materials, blog posts, speeches, and presentations. It also distributed 14.8 million print publications to various banks, businesses, credit unions, government agencies, libraries, non-profit organizations, police departments, and schools. The FTC’s website also logged roughly 81.7 million views of its pages.

Lastly, the Commission reported that pursuant to its research and policy initiatives in 2014, it co-hosted a roundtable in Long Beach, California with the CFPB, examining how debt collection and credit reporting issues affect Latino consumers, especially individuals with limited English proficiency. In addition, the FTC reports that it worked closely with the CFPB in coordinating efforts to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive debt collection practices by meeting to discuss ongoing and upcoming law enforcement, rulemaking, and other activities; sharing debt collection complaints; cooperating on consumer education efforts in the debt collection arena; and consulting on debt collection rulemaking and guidance initiatives.

News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews