According to the New York Times, the spokesman for the American Collectors Association International lobbying group (ACA), Mark Schiffman, told news reporters the fines that collectors will receive for violating the new consumer protection laws during collection are “currently being negotiated.”
That should be reassuring to other debtors who will be facing debt collections under the new format. Under the old laws of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, passed in 1977, the fine was $1,000.
Some people felt like the fine was not stiff enough, and under the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which has policy making abilities, many people had hoped the new laws would provide stiffer penalties and would protect consumers from collectors abuses.
Many in the ACA claim they have been routinely insulted, pummeled them with obscenities, crudely propositioned and threatened with violence. Even though the consumers filed 140,036 complaints against the collectors last year alone, a 17 percent increase from the previous year, the collectors of the ACA claim those are the exceptions.
The most interesting part of this story is not the collectors making preposterous claims about abuse by debtors and asking for laws to protect them, but the fact the federal regulators, who are supposed to be protecting the consumers, negotiating with the collectors to determine what they think is a fair fine for their violations.
Since when, in the history of the United States Government, did our lawmakers begin to negotiate with lawbreakers to determine what is best for the rest of us? Is it when those lawbreakers began contributing handsomely to the lawmakers?
The CFPB should be allowed to fine the collectors who violate the collection laws so it will get their attention and stop the behavior, thus protecting our individual rights to live in this country free of harassment.
Until the lawmakers work out all the legalities of the new consumer protection laws, debtors may have to stop debt collection harassment the old fashioned way, by taking advantage of the automatic stay. Filing for bankruptcy protection initiates an automatic stay which will stop certain lawsuits, foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions, repossessions, garnishments, attachments, and debt collection harassment.
If you need relief from the stress of debt harassment, and you live in or around the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C., contact us at . We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area who will answer your bankruptcy questions.
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