WASHINGTON, D.C. (Legal Newsline) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently outlined a set of proposals it is considering as part of a plan to overhaul the debt collection market — capping collector contact attempts and helping ensure companies collect the correct debt.
The proposals focus on making sure companies have the proper info before collecting debt. While collecting, companies would need to limit communications, clearly disclose debt details and make it easier to dispute the debt.
“Today we are considering proposals that would drastically overhaul the debt collection market,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said. “This is about bringing better accuracy and accountability to a market that desperately needs it.”
The debt collection business in the United States affects close to 70 million consumers, some of whom may be wrongly contacted by debt collectors. A CFPB study estimated that about one in three consumers had been contacted by a debt collection agency in the past year. One-third of these consumers claimed companies attempted to collect the wrong amount of debt from them.
The CFPB receives more complaints about debt collection than any other financial product or service. Complaints include attempts to collect the wrong amount or attempts to collect from the wrong consumer.