There are some groups of businesses that a number of individuals have been waiting for the CFPB to get under control. Probably the top one would be debt collection agencies, which have been issued numerous guidelines by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
New Sherriff finally here
There is a lot of hatred in the debt collectors business, which they most likely deserve considering some of the things collectors do. Though there are good debt collectors out there, there are a ton of bad apples that give the industry a bad name.
In 2011, over 180,000 complaints were made about debt collectors to the Federal Trade Commission, according to the New York Times. That is a lot of growth from 2000 when it was only 13,950 complaints. The majority of the bad activity is obviously with smaller firms since only 21 percent of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission were from the top 100 debt collectors.
Many have been waiting for the CFPB to bring in the industry's practices and curb abuses and the agency has informed debt collectors that there is a brand new sheriff in town.
New year; new rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be in charge of debt collectors officially on Jan 2, 2013 and will make sure debt collectors are honest and civil in their communications with people. People should always pay their personal loans and other debt, but they also should not be abused when they neglect to. Companies will have to reconsider their debt practices.
The CFPB is authorized under the Dodd-Frank Act, which produced the bureau and its mandate, to regulate "non-bank financial institutions" which deal with consumers.
The CFPB only supervises companies that have over $10 million or more in recipients, which only accounts for 175 of the 4,500 debt collection companies in the country. About 63 percent of the business is done in the big businesses, which means at least $12.2 billion a year is being watched closely, according to the New York Times. The smaller businesses may be able to get away with their bad practices still.
Rules for regulation
According to Forbes, about 5 in every one million people complain even though the top 100 companies only accounted for 21 percent of grievances. There are not that many complaints regardless of the bad news of debt collection companies.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on further guidelines to regulate the industry, but as Forbes points out, regulating the top players is not as pressing as it might seem. By virtue of being the largest firms, they work with the largest creditors, which mean much tighter scrutiny over practices.
New Sherriff finally here
There is a lot of hatred in the debt collectors business, which they most likely deserve considering some of the things collectors do. Though there are good debt collectors out there, there are a ton of bad apples that give the industry a bad name.
In 2011, over 180,000 complaints were made about debt collectors to the Federal Trade Commission, according to the New York Times. That is a lot of growth from 2000 when it was only 13,950 complaints. The majority of the bad activity is obviously with smaller firms since only 21 percent of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission were from the top 100 debt collectors.
Many have been waiting for the CFPB to bring in the industry's practices and curb abuses and the agency has informed debt collectors that there is a brand new sheriff in town.
New year; new rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be in charge of debt collectors officially on Jan 2, 2013 and will make sure debt collectors are honest and civil in their communications with people. People should always pay their personal loans and other debt, but they also should not be abused when they neglect to. Companies will have to reconsider their debt practices.
The CFPB is authorized under the Dodd-Frank Act, which produced the bureau and its mandate, to regulate "non-bank financial institutions" which deal with consumers.
The CFPB only supervises companies that have over $10 million or more in recipients, which only accounts for 175 of the 4,500 debt collection companies in the country. About 63 percent of the business is done in the big businesses, which means at least $12.2 billion a year is being watched closely, according to the New York Times. The smaller businesses may be able to get away with their bad practices still.
Rules for regulation
According to Forbes, about 5 in every one million people complain even though the top 100 companies only accounted for 21 percent of grievances. There are not that many complaints regardless of the bad news of debt collection companies.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on further guidelines to regulate the industry, but as Forbes points out, regulating the top players is not as pressing as it might seem. By virtue of being the largest firms, they work with the largest creditors, which mean much tighter scrutiny over practices.
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