As someone who has reviewed most of the nearly 10,000 comments that have been submitted regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed debt collection rule, I can say with some degree of certainty that one regulator chastising another one is fairly uncommon. But that’s what the New York Department of Financial Services chose to do with its remarks, saying the proposed rule “does not go far enough to protect consumers.”
The comment, which can be viewed here, was one of a flurry of comments that came in during the last day or so to submit comments. Linda Lacewell, the Superintendent of the DFS, really had nothing positive to say about the proposed rule in her comment. She calls out the CFPB for proposing that collectors can send documents via a hyperlink in an email or text message, “blessing and normalizing a delivery method frequently used by scammers and hackers.”
The CFPB also should limit the number of messages that can be sent via email, text, and social media and lower the proposed seven-call cap on phone calls because it may lead to consumers receiving “dozens of calls a week.”
Collectors should also be required to obtain verification of a debt or a copy of a judgment prior to initiating any activity, Lacewell says in her comment, because “the rule should provide additional protections for consumers complaining about collectors attempting to collect debts not owed.”
