What if Our Company Has Never Been Sued?
Collection agencies and creditors do not only need an experienced credit and collection attorney when they are sued. MAP is an education program, designed to keep your company out of costly litigation. Preventive legal services are the most cost-effective legal services you can buy. Whether large or small, your company will benefit from your MAP attorney’s routine review of dunning letters; billing letters; corporate structure; office procedures; technology use such as predictive dialers, answering machines and caller ID; and training of your telephone collectors.
Creditors Don’t Need to Comply with the FDCPA, Right?
Creditors can be targets in FDCPA cases. Creditors often represent the deep pockets in consumer litigation and are routinely named as defendants in suits involving outsourcing, letter services, billing services, credit reporting, negligent retention of a collection agency or violation of state consumer protection laws. Your MAP attorney can advise you on the legal risks associated with your internal and external collection and billing practices and conduct a thorough review of all creditor/collection agency contracts, provide you with regular updates on the application of the FDCPA to creditors and the state consumer protection laws that do apply to creditors!
What if Our Company is Located Outside the Continental United States and Handles International Collections?
The forwarding of accounts between agencies from different countries creates endless controversy. Access to U.S. law and a national lawyer referral service will help your firm identify those lawyers who specialize in credit and collection law.
What if Our Company is an Affiliate Member of ACA?
Unfortunately, the “legal issues” have become your problem. In recent years, vendors of credit and collection products and services have been joined as defendants in lawsuits at an unprecedented rate. Letter service providers, billing service providers, sellers of location information and software vendors are prime targets in today’s litigious environment. You can’t help your clients stay in compliance if you don’t understand their legal issues and limitations.
Won’t Our Errors and Omissions Carrier Assign an Attorney if We Are Sued?
Many of the ACA errors and omissions insurance attorneys are already enrolled in MAP. Ask your assigned attorney whether he or she is enrolled in MAP. If not, recommend that they contact MAP. In addition, it has become increasingly common for agencies to consult with their MAP attorney before litigation arises on day-to-day compliance issues, validation letters, merger and acquisition activity, business structure, state licensing requirements and, of course, FTC investigations.
What Can MAP Do For My Collection Attorney? The members of MAP are collection attorneys, defense litigation lawyers and in–house counsel for creditors and third–party collectors. MAP focuses its case law summaries, legal articles and legal forms and contracts for use by each subgroup of attorneys. Collection attorneys will find these MAP services extremely valuable: Online skiptracing; collection trial strategies; Fastfax documents; internal law firm operations (letterhead, use of support staff); access to bankruptcy forms, collection forms, garnishment information, settlement and release documents, etc.
What Does “Sponsorship” Mean? Sponsorship by an ACA member is a requirement for membership in MAP. ACA sponsorship of MAP attorneys serves as our industry safeguard against the admission of attorneys to our program who do not align themselves with the needs and goals of our ACA membership. ACA sponsorship is a critical step in the MAP application process. Sponsorship can only be accomplished by a current member of ACA. By sponsoring an attorney in MAP, the sponsor signifies and states the attorney does not represent consumers in claims against third–party collectors, credit grantors, or those substantially engaged in the asset buying industry; the attorney is not primarily engaged in business as a third–party debt collector; and the attorney provides services to the sponsor. ACA members can sponsor as many attorneys as they wish. There is no cost to the sponsor when the attorney pays his or her own dues.