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ABA: The American Bankers Association
Letter to Congress & Regulators

Joint Comments to the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection on Debt Collection

  • From American Bankers Association, Consumer Bankers Association CBA
  • Published December 12, 2024

Re: Proposed Amendment of Final Rules Relating to Debt Collectors
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Dear Commissioner Mayuga:

The American Bankers Association  and the Consumer Bankers Association (the "Associations") appreciate the opportunity to submit this comment letter on the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) proposed amendment to its previously-finalized debt collection rules (the "Proposal").

The Associations strongly urge the DCWP to withdraw its extension of ill-suited procedural requirements to creditors collecting their own debts in their own names. At a minimum, DCWP should follow a more deliberate process by reopening the comment period and suspending the effective date of the Proposal. With the benefit of a further opportunity to consider comments, the Associations are confident that the DCWP will conclude that the Proposal does not give sufficient notice to affected creditors, would substantially harm and confuse consumers, imposes illogical obligations on their creditors, and likely is preempted by federal and state law.

1. The Rulemaking process did not give required notice to affected creditors.

The process that DCWP followed with respect to the Proposal did not provide the required time to consider the wide-ranging impacts of the Proposal. After a two-year rulemaking process, DCWP finalized its debt collection rules in August 2024 (DCWP Final Rules). Nowhere in that 24-month rulemaking record did DCWP state that the proposed or final rules would apply to creditors collecting their own accounts and doing so using their own names. Rather, the definition in the original proposal and in the DCWP Final Rules defined debt collector to include "any creditor that, in collecting its own debts, uses any name other than its own that would suggest or indicate that someone other than such creditor is collecting or attempting to collect such debts."

Download the joint comment letter to read the full text.

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