Members of the DBA International Board of Directors met today with Director Richard Cordray and senior staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to discuss mutual areas of concern and the upcoming rule making process. The meeting was part of DBA’s ongoing efforts to promote enhanced consumer protections for the benefit of both the consumer and business communities.

 

This meeting was very informative and extremely well timed with the recently released proposed collection rules outline that was developed as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) hearing.  DBA International was able to convey the important role its Receivables Management Certification Program has played in establishing best practices and setting rigorous standards in the accounts receivable management industry and expressed our appreciation that it was referenced several times throughout the SBREFA outline.

The Director expressed his openness to continuing a “vigorous dialogue” and receiving feedback from DBA International throughout the rule development process. He mentioned several times during the meeting that he wants to prevent unintended consequences by failing to understand operational impacts of the rule on small and large businesses alike.

While expressing DBA International’s support for the rulemaking process and the much needed clarity it will provide for the industry, DBA expressed its concern about several of the provisions contained in the SBREFA outline, including, but not limited to, the:

  • Value of resale on the secondary market
  • Potential retroactive application of the rule
  • Need for definitional clarity
  • Problems associated with basing data and documentation production on date of default
  • Need for straight forward boilerplate language for consumer notices
  • Industry’s concerns on the out-of-statute provisions

The conversation on these points was very open and engaging and all parties appeared to leave the meeting with an enhanced understanding of the others perspectives. The CFPB expressed that they understand the more clarity they can provide in rules will allow the industry to proceed with their business operations with minimized risks.