Assignments without notice could lead to consumers paying the wrong person. The CFPB should encourage proper notice by ruling that a payment made to either of the assignee or the assignor reduces the debt.
It is important that a consumer receives notification that an account has arrived with a third party vendor. But a blanket notice covering every situation that may happen between now and the end of time should not be included in that notice.
The initial notification should include the following facts:
1. The original creditor
2. The amount of the claim
3. The last date of charge to the account
It should also include the following information:
1. If you do not recognize this obligation, please call our customer service line for additional information. Please understand that you will be expected to identify yourself before customer service would be able to provide that information. Utilize this toll-free number to reach customer service. You will not be able to speak with a debt collector on this line.
2. If you do not believe that you owe this money, contact customer service for information regarding your right to dispute a bill. This request can also be made by mail or you can find this list at CFPB.com
Finally, of course, the recovery industry can include a request for full payment of the obligation or a call to discuss resolving the matter. The bottom of the notice should include "This notice has been generated by a debt collector."
The CFPB should determine what standard information needs to be made available for verification of a debt and the collection industry should be required to provide that information when requested. The list should be standard and available on websites of the CFPB and sent by every member of the industry upon request. i believe the list should be:
1. Original Creditor account number
2. Itemized statement of obligation including amount and date of last charge and payment
3. Type of debt
4. Signed contract if debt was the result of a contract
5. Location where services or sale was initiated
6. Any other brand name/business consumer might recognize associated with the obligation (if applies)
Splitting these obligations of the recovery industry serves a positive consumer purpose as well as better serving the industry. Additionally, you will notice that I ignored the legal notification portion completely. Upon introduction is definitely the incorrect time to speak of legal action, the industry should be required to provide this notification only in cases that reach a minimum of a 50% chance that suit would be involved. This notification would have to be documented as sent no less than 45 days prior to taking any legal action.
Any form of written communication should count as a notice in writing. If a debt collector receives a notice via email of contact they should be required to follow it.
Look, its 2013! Ignoring phone calls is annoying and constantly seeing missed calls is aggrivating. Why are bill collectors stuck in ancient times? Text me!! Email me!! Those phone calls are not going to be answered because I work and have kids. Communicati g with them would be so much easier if I could text and email these people. Seriously this is not 1950 we live in!!
I have a lot of concerns with emails. Email clients have privacy/security settings that do not allow the sender to know if/when an email has been or was received. The problem is that even with these privacy/security settings, senders are able to get around these settings. This is widely used by spammers and hackers. All of the spam experts all say not to open emails that are spam or potential spam, because the spammers are so good at manipulating and getting around the privacy/security settings and force the recipients email client to inform the sender of when/if an email was opened. Also, I do not like the idea that collectors can insert links in emails. The more unscrupulous collectors and unscrupulous employees can insert links that are harmful to the security of the user’s computers and offensive to the recipients (like pornographic material). Just think about how many collectors still (even after all of the lawsuits) use offensive and abusive language over the telephone, just think about what kind of harm these bad apples would be able to do with emails. I also I do not like the emails because of the ease with which collection companies can sell the email lists to marketers. Many decades ago, one of my neighbors was a debt collector. She would tell me that if they couldn’t get money out of the debtors then we make money off of them by selling your address and personal information to marketing companies. I have huge concerns for allowing collectors from using emails. Any rules that allow collectors to use email should come with deliberate care and attention to the privacy/security, materials and content, and the restriction of selling email lists. I also worry about true and accurate identification of emails. Spammers/hackers are able to manipulate how emails are presented and the name of the email address that they send with. Haven’t you ever gotten a spam email that was sent by “you”? Just like I worry about the phone call numbers being spoofed there should also be rules restricting collectors are manipulating and spoofing their email addresses.
josephusmyer
1
Assignments without notice could lead to consumers paying the wrong person. The CFPB should encourage proper notice by ruling that a payment made to either of the assignee or the assignor reduces the debt.
View this comment in the discussion thread
LarryS
2It is important that a consumer receives notification that an account has arrived with a third party vendor. But a blanket notice covering every situation that may happen between now and the end of time should not be included in that notice. The initial notification should include the following facts: 1. The original creditor 2. The amount of the claim 3. The last date of charge to the account It should also include the following information: 1. If you do not recognize this obligation, please call our customer service line for additional information. Please understand that you will be expected to identify yourself before customer service would be able to provide that information. Utilize this toll-free number to reach customer service. You will not be able to speak with a debt collector on this line. 2. If you do not believe that you owe this money, contact customer service for information regarding your right to dispute a bill. This request can also be made by mail or you can find this list at CFPB.com Finally, of course, the recovery industry can include a request for full payment of the obligation or a call to discuss resolving the matter. The bottom of the notice should include "This notice has been generated by a debt collector." The CFPB should determine what standard information needs to be made available for verification of a debt and the collection industry should be required to provide that information when requested. The list should be standard and available on websites of the CFPB and sent by every member of the industry upon request. i believe the list should be: 1. Original Creditor account number 2. Itemized statement of obligation including amount and date of last charge and payment 3. Type of debt 4. Signed contract if debt was the result of a contract 5. Location where services or sale was initiated 6. Any other brand name/business consumer might recognize associated with the obligation (if applies) Splitting these obligations of the recovery industry serves a positive consumer purpose as well as better serving the industry. Additionally, you will notice that I ignored the legal notification portion completely. Upon introduction is definitely the incorrect time to speak of legal action, the industry should be required to provide this notification only in cases that reach a minimum of a 50% chance that suit would be involved. This notification would have to be documented as sent no less than 45 days prior to taking any legal action.
View this comment in the discussion thread
brendandavis
3
Any form of written communication should count as a notice in writing. If a debt collector receives a notice via email of contact they should be required to follow it.
View this comment in the discussion thread
kiko30
4
Look, its 2013! Ignoring phone calls is annoying and constantly seeing missed calls is aggrivating. Why are bill collectors stuck in ancient times? Text me!! Email me!! Those phone calls are not going to be answered because I work and have kids. Communicati g with them would be so much easier if I could text and email these people. Seriously this is not 1950 we live in!!
View this comment in the discussion thread
stopwithspoofedcallerID
5
I have a lot of concerns with emails. Email clients have privacy/security settings that do not allow the sender to know if/when an email has been or was received. The problem is that even with these privacy/security settings, senders are able to get around these settings. This is widely used by spammers and hackers. All of the spam experts all say not to open emails that are spam or potential spam, because the spammers are so good at manipulating and getting around the privacy/security settings and force the recipients email client to inform the sender of when/if an email was opened. Also, I do not like the idea that collectors can insert links in emails. The more unscrupulous collectors and unscrupulous employees can insert links that are harmful to the security of the user’s computers and offensive to the recipients (like pornographic material). Just think about how many collectors still (even after all of the lawsuits) use offensive and abusive language over the telephone, just think about what kind of harm these bad apples would be able to do with emails. I also I do not like the emails because of the ease with which collection companies can sell the email lists to marketers. Many decades ago, one of my neighbors was a debt collector. She would tell me that if they couldn’t get money out of the debtors then we make money off of them by selling your address and personal information to marketing companies. I have huge concerns for allowing collectors from using emails. Any rules that allow collectors to use email should come with deliberate care and attention to the privacy/security, materials and content, and the restriction of selling email lists. I also worry about true and accurate identification of emails. Spammers/hackers are able to manipulate how emails are presented and the name of the email address that they send with. Haven’t you ever gotten a spam email that was sent by “you”? Just like I worry about the phone call numbers being spoofed there should also be rules restricting collectors are manipulating and spoofing their email addresses.
View this comment in the discussion thread