The DBA International Board of Directors and Certification Council have adopted version 3.0 of its Certification Program. By establishing uniform national standards of best practice, DBA International is able to ensure that its certified members are exceeding the consumer protection requirements of state and federal law.   Unlike prior revisions, the changes contained in version 3.0 are almost exclusively administrative in nature with no additional standards having been added to the program. The following is a highlight of some of the changes contained in the latest version:

  • The name of the Certification Program has been changed to the “DBA International Receivables Management Certification Program” to reflect the expansion of the program that took place with version 2.1 permitting collection law firms and third party collection agencies to qualify for certification Ethics Committee
  • Standard # 14 – Website & Publication: Standard # 14 was amended to remove the requirement that certified companies include on their website the year the company became certified and the company’s website address. The revision also included language to allow an affiliate of a Certified Company flexibility in complying with the website requirements if the affiliate does not communicate with consumers.
  • Standard # 15 – Vendor Management: Standard # 15 was amended to change the focus of the standard from one of mandating specific requirements in vendor contracts to requiring certified companies to perform an annual assessment of its: (i) vendor management policies and procedures to identify and implement improvements, and (ii) third party vendors to determine whether they continue to meet or exceed the requirements and expectations of the company.

Certified Companies or companies that have submitted an application for certification prior to January 5, 2015 have until July 5, 2015 to conform to the changes per section 5.7(D) of the Certification Governance Document. Applicants submitting an application on or after January 5, 2015 need to conform to version 3.0 prior to becoming certified.   DBA International requires all domestic debt buying companies that are members of DBA to complete their certification by March 1, 2016 or within two years of becoming a member. More information on the DBA International Receivables Management Certification Program, including specific program requirements and applications, can be found on the DBA website.