In advance of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger’s first time before the House Financial Services Committee today, ACA International has submitted a letter to the committee, detailing how Congress should “urge [the CFPB] to create transparent and workable policies for the financial services industry.”
Kraninger’s testimony, which will be webcast live, is due to start at 10am. Following her testimony, the committee will hear from a panel of consumer advocates, as well as Scott Weltman, the managing shareholder of Weltman Weinberg & Reis. Weltman, as many in the industry will recall, was sued by the CFPB only to win the case when a jury ruled that Bureau did not prove its case that the firm’s attorneys were not meaningfully involved in reviewing cases before a collection letter was sent out.
The CFPB is due to publish a proposed debt collection rule this month, making the ARM industry one of the first to “welcome new rules” from the Bureau following the confirmation of Kraninger to be the CFPB’s new director, ACA International CEO Mark Neeb wrote in the letter.
During her testimony, Kraninger will likely be facing a somewhat hostile majority, with Democrats now in control of the House of Representatives. Committee Chairman Rep. Maxine Waters [D-Calif.], has made no secret of her desire to undo many of the changes that were put in place by Acting Director Mick Mulvaney during his year running the CFPB. Whether any of the members of the committee ask collection-related questions remains to be seen, but with the supposed imminent release of a proposed rule, it would be nice if someone mentioned it during the hearing.
In the letter, Neeb lays out seven different areas that the ARM industry “would like further consideration given” by the CFPB:
- Urging the Bureau to take into account the feedback provided during its extensive request for information process
- Urging the Bureau to continue to host industry roundtable discussions
- Clarifying the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
- Improving Pre-rule actions surrounding debt collection
- The CFPB’s Complaint Database paints an inaccurate portrait of the debt collection industry
- Including more transparency and due process in CFPB enforcement processes
- Congressional solutions
