Consumer Financial Protection Bureau building in Washington, D.C. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi
A coalition of consumer groups is asking the CFPB to extend the comment period for the agency's controversial proposed debt collection rules by two months.
The coalition, which includes the Center for Responsible Lending, the Consumer Federation of America and the National Consumer Law Center, asks the CFPB to extend the comment deadline from Aug. 19 to Oct. 19.
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After years of research, the CFPB on May 7 released a 538-page proposed rule implementing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The proposal specifies rules for third-party debt collectors covered under that law. Among other things, the rule addresses technological advances that have taken place since the law was enacted in 1977.
Credit union trade groups said while the rule only governs third-party debt collectors, many credit unions hire those firms.
Consumer groups have criticized the rules, which would allow a debt collector to make up to seven telephone calls a week to a borrower.
The groups said the complexity of the issue makes it difficult to comment on it.
"The Bureau has taken several years to get to the stage of a proposed rule because of the complexity of the issues," they said in a letter to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger. "There is no urgency that mitigates against giving the public two more months to respond to that proposal."
The groups said that the proposed rule is the first ever set of regulations implementing the 52-year-old law.
They said that there are very few organizations that represent the interests of people subject to debt collection that have the expertise to analyze the rule. They also said they have been engaged in commenting on proposals from the CFPB and other agencies.
The groups said that there has been little publicity encouraging public comment, adding that they have had to publicize the proposal while, at the same time, analyzing it.
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