Keeping Up with Regulatory Change in the Collection Industry
With 50 states and seemingly a different set of rules for each, keeping up with the regulatory changes in the collections industry can be tricky. But Michelle Dove, Corporate Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at IC System, said it’s all in a day’s work. She joined host Tyler Kern to shed some light on the latest industry regulations and provide some best practices for keeping on top of the changes.
Dove’s primary job with IC System is to manage litigation. Still, she also spends a fair amount of time reviewing policies and procedures to ensure everything follows the ever-changing laws and regulations.
“There are some federal laws that are overarching and govern everything we do,” Dove noted. “The FDCPA, in essence, tells debt collectors that you have to treat consumers fairly. The FCRA governs how we report debts if our clients elect a credit reports’ accounts. The FCRA tells us how to do it right. The TCPA governs how we call consumers and mostly dictates how and when we can call cell phones.” And there are many other privacy-related laws debt collectors must follow.
The more states that create their own regulatory operations and laws, the trickier compliance is for companies like IC System. It can get exhausting, but overall, Dove said it’s a good thing.
“I think for a long time in our industry, we collected debts a little bit unknowing of what the requirements or expectations were, and we usually found out when we got it wrong,” Dove said. “The good news, with all of this regulation, is it tells you how to collect debts the right way, and so ensuring compliance then is the next step.”
For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.
