The state’s Department of Finance is also considering updates to its licensure requirements for servicemembers and efforts to reduce regulatory burdens.
8/22/2019 9:30
The Idaho Department of Finance is focusing on reducing regulatory burdens and providing a comprehensive review of its professional licensing system, including for financial services companies, in the coming months.
Idaho’s Red Tape Reduction Act, an executive order signed by Gov. Brad Little in January, includes a requirement for any agency creating a new rule to eliminate two existing rules in order to reduce regulatory burdens, said Anthony Polidori, bureau chief of the Idaho Consumer Finance Bureau, during a department meeting on proposed rules Aug. 14. The state executive order follows suit of President Donald Trump’s federal executive order for all agencies to evaluate and remove rules as new ones are introduced
“Under the Red Tape Reduction Act, this department is seeing reduction in regulations and regulatory burdens through our rulemakings for our licensees and those people who are subject to our provisions of the Collection Agency Act,” Polidori said.
As a result, Polidori explained, the department continues to review rules related to financial services, including collection agencies, and licensing to determine if any can be modified or removed from the books.
Licensing
During the meeting, Polidori provided an overview of business licensing provisions that apply to veterans, military servicemembers and their spouses, and how they may be modified as part of the department’s consideration of completely switching over to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).
The department uses NMLS for approximately 60% of its licenses currently, he said.
According to the NMLS first quarter debt collection fact sheet, as of March 31, 2019, 10 states manage debt collection licenses in NMLS. There are 1,832 companies in NMLS that hold a total of 6,144 approved debt collection licenses.
In Idaho, the Department of Finance is reviewing whether it should expedite business licenses for servicemembers, their spouses and veterans, and accept licensure by endorsement under the Licensing Freedom Act if they have valid, unrestricted licensure in another state.
One of the biggest questions for the accounts receivable management industry is how broad the licensure by endorsement component could be, said Andrew Madden, ACA International’s vice president of government and state affairs.
It remains to be seen if the switch to full use of NMLS in Idaho would require additional proposed rulemaking to modify the department’s processes, plus paper-based applications, according to Polidori.
“Under the Licensing Freedom Act, we are continuously going through the processes we use to determine whether there are even other efficiencies that we can apply to our licensing system,” he said.
Collection Agency Act
In other business, the Department of Finance updated references to federal law and regulation in the state’s Collection Agency Act.
“Currently, there are no amendments to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that would actually be incorporated [to the Collection Agency Act] by reference, however we begin this rulemaking process earlier in the year with the understanding there may be amendments that occur in the future,” Polidori said. “Our rulemaking stands to incorporate those changes at the time the legislature will meet.”
For example, when the final changes to the FDCPA proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are in place, those would be incorporated into Idaho’s Collection Agency Act.
The department is also working to determine if any licensing provisions under the Collection Agency Act require review of a servicemember’s education and experience to evaluate whether they qualify for a license.
“If we do, [we also need to] determine whether applicable rules need to be made in order for us to evaluate and consider military education and experience as part of the requirements for licensure,” Polidori said.
Currently, the department’s qualifiers for licensure include three years of experience within the collection agency industry or the credit repair industry, for example, depending on which type of license they are seeking, he explained.
According to Polidori, the Department of Finance could issue proposed rulemakings to implement changes to the Licensing Freedom Act and Collection Agency Act by the end of August and then proceed with public comments.
ACA International will continue to follow the status of the proposals to provide updates for its members.