The Jan. 14 webinar, “Time-Barred Debt-It’s `Time After Sometime’ to Talk About This,” is part of the 10-part ACA Huddle CFPB Rule Series featuring legal and compliance experts. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
1/12/2021 10:00
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, Ontario Systems and Connect International.
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 Jan. 14 webinar in the series and featured speakers:
Time-Barred Debt—It’s “Time After Sometime” to Talk About This
On Thursday, Jan. 14, Tamar Yudenfreund, senior director, public policy at Encore Capital Group, David Schultz, partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, and Dennis J. Barton III, owner and managing attorney of The Barton Law Group LLC, will discuss time-barred debt.
For reasons relating to legal accuracy, ACA has historically referred to debts that have aged beyond the statutory period for enforcement as “out-of-statute debts.” That’s because, in most jurisdictions, creditors and their agents have not been prohibited from pursuing legal action on debts that have passed the statutory limitations period, i.e., legal action on those debts is not “barred” merely by the passage of time. Rather, those debts were subject to an affirmative defense that the consumer would have to raise in court and prove.
But with the CFPB’s adoption of this Section 1006.26, “time-barred debt” has officially become the accurate term in the FDCPA context, and so it’s the term that we’ll now use when referring to debts covered by this rule and related law. Read more initial analysis of time-barred debt requirements from ACA here.
Members may recall that the bureau issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) on this topic in the spring of 2020. Most of the proposals in the SNPRM ended up by the wayside, including the proposed time-barred debt disclosure requirement and all model language and forms for time-barred debt collection.
In response to comments it received, the bureau is finalizing the rule with two principal changes on time-barred debt.
Yudenfreund, who chairs ACA’s Federal Affairs Committee, is an active ACA member and participated in a panel at the June Washington Insights Livestream on legislation in the 116th Congress impacting the ARM industry.
Schultz is nationally recognized in consumer litigation defense at both the trial and appellate levels.
He served on ACA’s Members Attorney Program (MAP) Committee from 2012-2015 and previously served on ACA’s Judicial Committee. He is also a MAP Attorney State Chair volunteer for Illinois and 2017 recipient of ACA’s Jonathan Elliot Judicial Advocacy Award.
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.
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