CFPB Issues First Annual FDCPA Report to Congress

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Tuesday issued its first annual report to Congress detailing its actions administering the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 2011.

The FDCPA requires an annual report to Congress from the agency administering the law. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had been responsible for the reports since 1977. But the creation of the CFPB by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act shifted responsibility to the new agency.

The CFPB noted that its “program to administer and enforce the FDCPA has only just begun,” conceding that it came into being in July 2011 and did not have a director until early this year. To bolster the 2011 FDCPA report, the FTC submitted a letter to the CFPB detailing its own actions during the year under the law, which included enforcement actions.

The CFPB’s report was largely devoted to background information on the FDCPA, discussion of consumer complaints citing the FDCPA, and the FTC’s enforcement actions. The CFPB did note, however, that it filed three amicus briefs in cases pertaining to the law.

Supervision of large debt collectors by the CFPB also got plenty of attention in the report. The agency referenced its proposed rule on that front and noted that “if the rule is finalized as proposed, debt collectors and credit reporting agencies that qualify as larger participants would be subject to the same supervision process as banks and other nonbanks subject to the Bureau’s supervision. The proposed rule will remain open for comment until April 17, 2012, sixty days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.”

The entire report is available on the CFPB’s Web site.