CFPB Issues Annual FDCPA Report to Congress and Extends Comment Period for Supplemental Proposed FDCPA Rule

The CFPB recently released its annual FDCPA report (Report) to Congress describing the CFPB’s and FTC’s activities in 2019.  Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CFPB extended the comment period for the CFPB’s supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) regarding further amending the FDCPA’s implementing Regulation F to, in part, require debt collectors to make certain disclosures when collecting time-barred debts.  The deadline to submit comments on the SNPRM, which WBK originally covered here, was extended from May 4, 2020 to June 5, 2020.

The CFPB and FTC share enforcement responsibilities under the FDCPA.  The Report describes the efforts by the CFPB and the FTC in 2019 to stop unlawful debt collection practices, including law enforcement, public outreach, and policy initiatives.  Some of the FDCPA-related activities undertaken by the CFPB in 2019 include:

• Handling approximately 75,200 debt collection complaints related to first-party and third-party collection;
• Issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking which would prescribe rules under Regulation F;
• Engaging in five public enforcement actions, two of which were initiated in years prior to 2019;
• Providing debt collection educational materials; and
• Filing amicus curiae briefs in four cases involving the FDCPA (one in the Supreme Court and three in federal court of appeals).