Members specializing in compliance and legal matters will share their insights on electronic communication disclosures and collection practices during the webinar series following the release of the CFPB’s final debt collection rule. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
10/6/2020 9:00
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to release its long-awaited debt collection rule this year, and ACA International is ready. 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 standing by to quickly review the comprehensive rule and will be providing detailed analysis and compliance resources.
As part of that process, ACA is planning 11 daily ACA Huddle webinars complimentary for members sponsored by Hinshaw & Culberston LLP, Ontario Systems, Venable LLP and RevSpring Inc. Registration is open now and the webinars—for ACA members only—will be held on consecutive weekdays starting within 24 to 48 hours after the rule is released.
Here is a look at the fourth and fifth webinars in the series and featured speakers:
Electronic Communications Disclosures
The CFPB’s proposed debt collection rule released in May 2019 addressed several issues ACA sought clarity on, including the requirements for a validation notice. The proposed rule also included certain disclosures, such as an itemization of the debt and plain-language information about how a consumer may respond to a collection attempt, including by disputing the debt.
This webinar will focus on initial analysis of those components in the final debt collection rule from speakers Leslie Bender, IFCCE, CCCO, senior counsel at Clark Hill PLC's financial services and regulatory compliance group in Washington, D.C.; David Schultz, partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Chicago; and Tim Collins, general counsel and chief compliance officer at TrueAccord Corp. in San Francisco.
Bender, a past president of ACA, has spent her career on compliance, regulatory and legal matters for hospitals and financial services companies. She is a frequent speaker and moderator at ACA events and webinar instructor for ACA’s compliance professional education programs.
She also attended the CFPB’s May 2019 debt collection town hall with ACA members and staff and spoke during a credit reporting workshop cohosted by the Federal Trade Commission and CFPB in December 2019.
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.
Collins regularly shares his industry and compliance expertise at ACA’s conference and spoke on an episode of ACA Cast dissecting the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rule in July 2019. He moderated a panel with CFPB Deputy Director Tom Pahl during ACA’s Washington Insights Livestream in June.
Uncover and Deep Dive on Collection Practices
The next webinar in the series will evaluate the CFPB’s debt collection rule as it relates to day-to-day collection practices and provide initial guidance on compliance and legal best practices from speakers June Coleman, managing attorney at Carlson & Messer LLP in Los Angeles; Michael Klutho, shareholder at Bassford Remele in Minneapolis; and John Rossman, attorney at law, Moss & Barnett in Minneapolis.
Coleman is vice chair of ACA’s MAP committee and has more than 20 years of experience representing local, state and national clients in complex civil litigation disputes, with an emphasis in assisting those in the ARM industry, as well as appellate work. Her areas of emphasis include defense of consumer rights actions, including litigation involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, California’s Consumer Credit Reporting Agency Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Klutho is a member of ACA’s Board of Directors and serves as board liaison to the Judicial Advocacy Committee. He has represented ACA members in thousands of FDCPA claims and lawsuits. He is a charter member of MAP and served on ACA’s Council of Delegates representing the MAP Division and now the Great Lakes Credit and Collection Association (GLCCA). As an ACA Certified Instructor, Klutho regularly presents on FDCPA, FCRA, and TCPA compliance and related topics. Most recently, Klutho began serving as president of GLCCA.
Rossman has devoted his entire career as an attorney to successfully defending collection agencies and financial institutions.
Register for ACA’s upcoming webinars on the CFPB debt collection rule, available only for members, now. For CFPB and ACA advocacy updates, log in to your My ACA profile on acainternational.org to subscribe to ACA Daily and Member Alerts.