The National Association of Federal Credit Unions has submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reiterating its request that its member-institutions be exempted from the agency’s proposed debt collection rules.
Because they are not considered debt collectors under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and whatever debt collection rule the CFPB is working on would fall under the FDCPA, credit unions should be exempted from any third-party collection-related regulation, the association stated in its letter. NAFCU also thinks that credit unions should be exempt from any first-party regulations related to debt collection that the CFPB undertakes.
“A first-party debt collection rule could have a severely negative impact on the credit union industry; and a third-party debt collection rule could also have indirect effects on credit unions that make it harder for them to continue to do what they do best—that is, offer affordable, high-quality financial products and services to their communities,” wrote Anne Kossachev, NAFCU’s regulatory affairs counsel. “Should the CFPB decide to go forward with these rulemakings, NAFCU requests that credit unions be excluded from any rule on debt collection practices.”
Why should credit unions be exempt from any rules? Because they are the good guys, Kossachev writes.
“Credit unions are not the nefarious actors that the CFPB should target with such a rulemaking,” she says in the letter. She added that if the CFPB were to include credit unions in any debt collection rulemaking, that would make it hard for them to “continue offering the excellent products and services their members love and have come to expect.”
