plan of action - september 6, 2019

Consumer Protections

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a new debt collection rule which does more to protect the interests of creditors and debt collection agencies than the interests of consumers. The CFPB is accepting public comments on the rule change until September 18. The National Consumer Law Center is asking that any rule include the following provisions to:

• limit collectors to one conversation and three attempts per week, per consumer;
• require consent before contacting consumers via email, text, or direct message and allow consumers to stop these messages by simply replying or using any convenient method; 
• not protect attorneys who make false, deceptive or misleading statements, and require them to review original account-level documents to determine they are filing a lawsuit against the right person, for the right amount, and that their client has the legal authority to do so;
• ban collection of time-barred debt in and out of court because these debts are so old that records are lost, the collector may have the wrong information, and the debt cannot be collected without mistakes or deception.  

Action:

Use the National Consumer Law Center page to submit your comments:
https://nclc.salsalabs.org/TelltheCFPBtoProtectConsumersNotAbusiveDebtCollectors/index.html,

or

Submit your comments directly:
https://nclc.salsalabs.org/SubmitacommenttotheCFPBcopy1/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b1ed1b81-6bdf-49a7-a1c3-15da13f5555f