Breaking it Down: the CFPB’s Supplemental Debt Collection Proposal on Time-Barred Debt

True to form, late on Friday afternoon February 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its proposed rule to require debt collectors to make certain disclosures when collecting time-barred debts. This 89-page proposal supplements the CFPB’s May 2019 proposed rule to amend Regulation F, which implements the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and currently contains the procedures for State application for exemption from the provisions of the FDCPA. The proposed rule for the collection of time-barred debt includes both the rationale for the supplemental rule and the results of the CFPB’s Quantitative Disclosure Testing and Quantitative Survey Testing of Model Disclosure clauses and forms for the collection of time barred debt. Once published in the Federal Register, interested parties will have 60 days to file comments on the impact of the proposed rule for the collection of time-barred debt. To assist RMAI members in their analysis of the proposed rule, RMAI will host a webinar on Friday February 28 addressing: 

• Impact of the proposed rule on the collection of time-barred debt; 
• Impact of the proposed rule on debt buying and debt collection practices;
• Content of the various disclosure clauses and forms for debt collection as imposed by the proposed rule;
• Summary of the CFPB’s findings on the Quantitative Disclosure Testing and the Quantitative Survey Testing of clauses and forms for debt collection;
• Interplay between the proposed rule for the collection of time-barred debt and state law requirements