Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: FTC to host debt collection dialogue in Atlanta, (Oct 21, 2015)

By Michael Menzhuber, J.D., LL.M.

The FTC will hold the third of its Debt Collection Dialogues on November 18 in Atlanta. The event will be co-hosted by the Office of Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. Earlier Dialogues were in Buffalo and Dallas.

The event will feature representatives from the FTC and other federal and state law enforcement agencies, who will talk with debt collection industry leaders about: (1) the agencies’ debt collection enforcement actions; (2) consumer complaints about collection practices; (3) debt collection compliance issues; and (4) industry best practices. The federal and state representatives will also answer questions from industry members and others who attend, including questions about how regulatory enforcement actions are investigated and pursued.

The opening remarks will be provided by Attorney General Olens and Christopher Koegel, Assistant Director, FTC Division of Financial Practices. Cindy Liebes, Director, FTC Southeast Region, will serve as moderator for the first panel. Nick Jarman, President and COO, Delta Outsource Group, Inc., and member of the ACA International Board of Directors; Carri Grube Lybarker, Administrator, South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs; Olha N.M. Rybakoff, Senior Counsel, Tennessee Attorney General's Office; and John Sours, Director, Consumer Protection Unit, Georgia Department of Law, will serve as panelists.

Thomas Kane, Senior Staff Attorney, FTC Division of Financial Practices, will serve as moderator for the second panel. Tim Bauer, President, insideARM, and Co-Executive Director, The Consumer Relations Consortium; Christopher Koegel; Kenneth Lennon, Assistant Director, Community and Consumer Law Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Harvey Moore, President, The Moore Law Group, and President, The National Creditors Bar Association; Gregory Nodler, Senior Counsel for Enforcement Policy and Strategy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and Brett Soldevila, Chief Compliance Officer, Security Credit Services, LLC, and Chair, Certification Standards Committee, DBA International, will serve as panelists.

The event, which will begin at 1 p.m. at the Latin American Association, 2750 Buford Highway, will be free and open to the public. More information on the event, including how to pre-register and submit questions for the panelists in advance, is posted at the event’s webpage.

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