Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

This 2019 amicus brief prepared by the Solicitor General deals with the question whether the discovery rule applies to the FDCPA statute of limitations.

This 2018 amicus brief prepared by the CFPB deals with the FDCPA’s statute of limitations, arguing that the limitations period runs separately for each discrete FDCPA violation. In this case, each communication violating the Act should be considered a discrete violation.

This 2018 amicus brief prepared by the CFPB and the Solicitor General deals with the question whether attorneys whose principal business is the conduct of home foreclosures are covered by the FDCPA. The brief argues that enforcement of a security interest through a nonjudicial foreclosure generally is not debt collection under the FDCPA and that any enforcement of a security interest, without more, generally is not debt collection under the FDCPA.

This is a CFPB amicus brief in support of the consumer in a Ninth Circuit appeal regarding pay-to-pay fees. The brief argues that the fees violate the FDCPA because they are not permitted by law unless a law expressly authorizes such fees. "Permitted by law" does not mean "permitted by any valid contract." An "amount" is "permitted by law" under section 1692f(1) only if a law expressly authorizes it. Allowing debt collectors to charge pay-to-pay fees absent express authorization is inconsistent with the FDCPA’s purposes.

Because the Commission’s Guides Against Debt Collection Deception have been superseded by, and submitted in, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Commission has determined that it is in the public interest to eliminate them. The Guides were adopted in 1967 to codify the results of many debt collection cases brought by the Commission against debt collectors and creditors under Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA).

The FTC has learned that, to recover on a decedent’s debts, some debt collectors contact the decedent’s relatives, although these relatives may have no authority to pay the debts from the decedent’s estate and no legal obligation to pay the debts from their own assets. By contacting persons who are not specified in Section 805 of the FDCPA, and by engaging in practices that may deceive those persons about their obligations, these debt collectors may be violating the FDCPA.The FTC will forebear from enforcing Section 805(b) of the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C.

This bulletin describes certain acts or practices related to the collection of consumer debt that could, depending on the facts and circumstances, constitute UDAAPs prohibited by the Dodd-Frank Act. Whether conduct like that described in this bulletin constitutes a UDAAP may depend on additional facts and analysis.

Debt buyers, debt collectors, and others who furnish information to credit reporting agencies have a variety of obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Regulation V. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issues this bulletin to highlight one of those obligations—the obligation of furnishers to investigate disputed information in a consumer report. The CFPB is concerned that, when a furnisher responds to a consumer’s dispute, it may, without conducting an investigation, simply direct the consumer reporting agency (CRA) to delete the item it has furnished.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) is issuing this compliance bulletin and policy guidance to residential mortgage servicers and subservicers (collectively, servicers), in light of potential risks to consumers that may arise in connection with transfers of residential mortgage servicing rights. The CFPB’s concern in this area remains heightened due to the continuing high volume of servicing transfers.

The CFPB is issuing this Compliance Bulletin to industry to remind entities of their obligations under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and Regulation E when obtaining consumer authorizations for preauthorized electronic fund transfers (EFTs) from a consumer’s account. This Compliance Bulletin summarizes the current law, highlights relevant supervisory findings, and articulates the CFPB’s expectations for entities obtaining consumer authorizations for preauthorized EFTs to help them ensure their compliance with Federal consumer financial law.