The Jan. 13 webinar, “Does it Go Away or is it Here to Stay? Decedent Debt,” continues the 10-part ACA Huddle CFPB Rule Series featuring legal, compliance and agency experts. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
1/12/2021 8:30
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released part two of its long-awaited debt collection rule Dec. 18 and ACA International is ready to help members continue to unpack its contents and prepare for compliance by Nov. 30, 2021.
The release of the final rule signals the biggest development in the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry since the passage of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act more than 40 years ago.
ACA’s panel of experts is continuing to review part two of the comprehensive rule to provide detailed analysis and compliance resources for members.
As part of that process, ACA is offering daily ACA Huddle webinars complimentary for members sponsored by Neustar and Ontario Systems.
ACA kicked off the series of webinars Dec. 21 to provide initial compliance insights and an overview of the requirements from the CFPB, including model validation notices, out-of-statute debt and decedent debt.
Registration for the remainder of the webinars, which will be held on weekdays through Jan. 15, is open now. Recordings and slide presentations of each webinar will be available throughout the series. ACA members can also download the ACA Mobile app for reminders on the upcoming ACA Huddle webinars and listen to the presentations, live or recorded, on the go.
Here is a look at the eighth webinar in the series and featured speakers:
In response to clarifications requested by ACA, the rule generally requires a debt collector to provide the validation information required by Section 1006.34(c) either by sending the consumer a validation notice in the manner required by Section 1006.42, or by providing the information orally in the debt collector’s initial communication. If the debt collector knows or should know that the consumer is deceased, and if the debt collector has not previously provided the validation information to the deceased consumer, a person who is authorized to act on behalf of the deceased consumer’s estate operates as the consumer for purposes of Section 1006.34(a)(1), ACA previously reported.
On Wednesday, Jan. 13, James R. Bedell, general counsel at AscensionPoint Recovery Services LLC (APRS), Jack Brown III, president of Gulf Coast Collection Bureau, Inc., and Heath Morgan, partner at Malone Frost Martin, will weigh in on the topic of decedent debt.
Morgan is a third-generation collection attorney with over 20 years of industry experience in first- and third-party health care, retail financial services, and collection litigation. He focuses on compliance and general counsel services at Malone Frost Martin and specializes in CFPB compliance oversight and audits, vendor audits and management, omni-channel communication implementation, and collection litigation audits. Morgan is licensed in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. He serves on the ACA Member Attorney Program (MAP) committee and is an ACA-approved Collection Notice Review Attorney.
At APRS, Bedell serves as the company’s general counsel and chief compliance officer. He is a state and federally licensed attorney with over 16 years of experience in the collections industry. Prior to joining APRS, Bedell was a member of the Creditors Remedies team at Moss & Barnett where he specialized in nationwide collections compliance and litigation defense. He received ACA’s Scholar Designation, is a member of the MAP, and formerly served as an ACA Collection Notice Review attorney. He is also a presenter and advocate on issues relating to decedent debt, the FDCPA, and other issues facing the collections industry.
Brown is the ACA Board of Directors liaison to the Federal Affairs Committee. He is a second-generation agency owner and 2018/19 president of ACA.
In addition to his federal advocacy, Brown continuously volunteers his time to the Florida Collectors Association and has served in several board roles, including president.
Register for ACA’s webinars on the CFPB debt collection rule, available only for members, now. Session presentations from part one of the webinars are available here and the website will be updated with materials from part two.