Daily Digest – September 13. Illinois County Hires Collection Agency To Recover $15M; Woman Gets Collection Notice for $0.01

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ILL. COUNTY HIRES COLLECTION AGENCY TO RECOVER $15M IN UNPAID DEBTS

• An Illinois county has signed a contract with a collection agency, Credit Collection Partners, to help collect nearly $15 million in unpaid debts dating back 20 years. The debts are for standard fines, such as unpaid traffic tickets. The collection agency is allowed to tack on an additional 30% to the amount owed as its fee for collecting the debts, according to the contract. The county “desperately” needs the money to continue funding its departments, according to a published report.

WOMAN GETS COLLECTION NOTICE FOR $0.01 

• Common sense prevailed recently in Canada, where a woman was sent a collection notice for $0.01 because she mistakenly wrote a check that was $0.01 less than the amount her daughter was fined for a traffic violation. When she contacted the local court, she was told she did not have to pay the $0.01 and should not have received a notice for the discrepancy. From here on, only those individuals with debts greater than $20 will receive notifications.

CU TRADE GROUP WRITES TO CFPB SHARING CONCERNS OVER DEBT COLLECTION PROPOSALS

• The national trade group representing credit unions has sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, outlining all the ways that its members should not have to comply with the agency’s recent debt collection proposals. The association, CUNA, is concerned that some of the substantiation and verification steps outlined by the CFPB will affect credit unions and increased costs and compliance burdens. As the letter points out: “Further, Congress recently urged the CFPB to tailor its rules so financial institutions acting responsibly are not unnecessarily hampered by additional compliance requirements.” Must be nice for credit unions.

LIKELY HEAD OF SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE SHARES PRIORITIES IF DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL IN NOVEMBER

• Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-Ohio] stands to become the new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee if Democrats regain control of the Senate in November’s election. He shared his priority list, which includes “strengthening rules on credit reporting and debt collection.”

CONSUMER SPENDING REMAINS STRONG, BUT OTHER ECONOMIC WARNING SIGNS POP UP

• Car sales fell in August among otherwise strong consumer spending, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The limits on credit cards for both prime and subprime borrowers are increasing, but only subprime borrowers are taking advantage, according to the data. Nearly 40% of prime borrowers have balances under $500, while 80% of subprime borrowers have balances above that amount.

WORTH NOTING: The person in charge of the program at Wells Fargo that created thousands of fake accounts and led to a $185 million fine and firing 5,300 employees, was paid $125 million … Ford debuted its self-driving car technology yesterday … Eight things that successful people do that lazy people don’t … Deloitte has rolled out a new family leave policy which some are calling the smartest benefit plan yet … 19 things that teachers would love to tell their students, but can’t … Ten things you didn’t know you could claim on your resume … The highest-paying jobs for high school graduates … Ryan Locate’s appearance on “Dancing With The Stars” sparked a lot of emotions …  What you should avoid to get through check-out lines the fastest … Porsche is going to make a station wagon … The 25 cities where your paychecks go the furthest.

Taking a ride in Ford’s self-driving car

John Oliver on birds

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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide.