New Rules Would Require Debt Collectors to Prove You Actually Owe Money
by Chris Morran, The Consumerist
One of the most common complaints about debt collectors is that they harass people over debts that are either no longer owed, or weren’t owed in the first place. Federal regulators are now proposing rules that — among other protections — would cut down on these annoying, bogus collections actions by requiring that debt collectors have some sort of evidence that the person they are calling actually owes money.
The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms not only created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but tasked the CFPB with issuing regulations to prohibit unfair and deceptive practices by certain financial institutions and services, including debt collectors.
After a three-year process of consulting the industry, consumer advocates, and everyday Americans, the CFPB is releasing the outline for new protections intended to cut down on nuisance, zombie, and mistaken-identity debt collections.
Read the rest (including a breakdown of the components of these rules) at The Consumerist…