Archives for September 2021

MCLEAN, Va. — Numeracle™ Inc.
(“Numeracle”), the pioneer of Verified Identity™ for communications, today
announced the release of its STIR/SHAKEN
Implementation Report (“Implementation Report”) summarizing
voice service provider progress implementing the STIR/SHAKEN Caller ID Authentication Framework
and submissions of certified Robocall Mitigation Plans since June 30, 2021.

June 30 marked the deadline
for all voice service providers to certify in the Robocall Mitigation
Database that they have fully
implemented STIR/SHAKEN or have instituted a Robocall Mitigation Plan to ensure
that they are not originating illegal robocalls. This
Implementation Report
compares the current count of those who have fully or partially implemented
STIR/SHAKEN to those who have filed Robocall Mitigation Plans and how this may
evolve as providers make decisions to accept or block traffic post-deadline.

To encourage voice service providers to
implement effective Robocall Mitigation Plans, the September 28 deadline set
forth by the FCC prohibits intermediate and terminating voice service providers
from accepting calls directly from a service provider not listed in the
Robocall Mitigation Database (Second Caller ID
Authentication Report and Order, 36 FCC Rcd at 1904, para. 87).

As we reach this deadline, the FCC issued
Fourth (WC Docket No. 17-97)
and Fifth (CG Docket No. 17-59)
Notices of Proposed Rulemaking focusing on the expectation on gateway providers
to prevent illegal robocalls originating abroad from entering the U.S. The FCC
is also seeking comments on the efficacy of the Robocall Mitigation
Database, and its continued role moving forward.

To access the Numeracle STIR/SHAKEN
Implementation Report, visit www.numeracle.com/implementation-report.
For service provider recommendations on implementing identity vetting and
verification in support of STIR/SHAKEN implementation, download the Numeracle and Aegis Mobile KYC best practices
guide at www.numeracle.com/service-provider-KYC-best-practices.

About
Numeracle

Numeracle’s Entity Identity Management™
(EIM) and Verified Identity™ platform empower the delivery of legal, wanted
communications. By working with technology providers, carriers, device
manufacturers, analytics companies, and others, we provide visibility, control,
and management across the major stakeholders influencing communications
delivery to give businesses control over their brand’s identity. Core
competencies include prevention and management of improper blocking and
labeling, KYC-based entity verification and credentialing for STIR/SHAKEN, and
branded communications through rich call data (RCD). To learn more, visit www.numeracle.com.

On September 22, 2021, the California Department of Financial
Protection and Innovation (DFPI) issued a press
release announcing its first enforcement action against
a debt collector and debt buyer for violating the California Consumer Financial
Protection Law (CCFPL).

Finding that F & F Management Inc. (F
& F) is a “covered person” under the CCFPL since it collects debt related
to a consumer financial product or service, the enforcement action assesses F&F with $375,000 in penalties. According to the allegations, F&F’s activities violated the CCFPL, the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (FDCPA), and multiple state laws, by:

• Leaving lengthy voicemails for consumers indicating that if the consumer did not call back within 24 hours, legal action would be taken, the consumer’s employer would be notified about the debt, and consumers would be served legal papers at their doorstep. F&F failed to send initial demand notices to consumers and never took any of these actions.

• Reporting the debt to credit bureaus but failing to notify consumers that their debt was being reported.

• Refusing or failing to provide consumers information about the debt when they contacted F&F to request the creditor’s name or other validation information.

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“The DFPI will not tolerate any unlawful, unfair, deceptive or
abusive acts or practices in collecting debts,” said DFPI Senior Deputy
Commissioner of the Consumer Financial Protection Division Suzanne Martindale.
“Debt collection is one of the DFPI’s top complaint types. This action
highlights just some of the unlawful and unfair acts that can cause enormous
harm to consumers and plague the debt collection industry, and the ways the
DFPI can address them.” 

InsideARM perspective:

What’s notable here isn’t that the
DFPI pursued this debt collector for this conduct. An actual reading of the enforcement
action indicates this debt collector was not particularly interested in compliance
(to put it nicely). 

However, what is notable is that the CA DFPI
has made it clear they consider third-party debt collectors to be “covered
person” under the CCFPL. The definitions
in the CCFPL are not super clear, so there has been quite a bit of debate on
this topic amongst ARM entities. Within the enforcement action though, the
DFPI tied several sections of the CCFPL together to show why third-party debt
collectors are, in its view, “covered persons,” and ARM entities collecting
debt in CA should take note.  

MOUNTAIN VIEW,  Calif. — Prodigal is pleased to
announce Scott Hamilton and Vijayan Seshasayee have joined the Prodigal team in sales and strategy roles,
respectively. Scott has had an illustrious career in the lending industry,
while Vijayan brings considerable experience at the intersection of technology
and financial services.

“Lending and collection operations are unique and nuanced.
Capital One & Goldman Sachs (Marcus) are sophisticated leaders in the
space. We are excited that Scott and Vijayan have joined to build a
category-defining company in the domain. We expect to more than double the team
in the coming quarters & always look for exceptional folks to join our
journey.” said Shantanu Gangal, CEO of Prodigal.

Scott joins Prodigal with 25 years of experience holding a series of business
transformation executive roles with GE Capital, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and most recently, Capital One. While his expertise relates to designing innovative
solutions to mission-critical productivity and risk management challenges
across the nation’s largest banks, Scott is an entrepreneur at heart! As the
son and father of small business owners, Scott has long had the plan to exit
the corporate world and join a rapidly growing start-up with a clear purpose and vision.

For Scott, Prodigal was a
perfect match – a superior product, significant demand, superior leaders,
experienced investors, and a culture full of hard-working, humble, and highly
competent soon-to-be friends. ‘I couldn’t be happier to join the team. While
the product fills a very large void in the industry, Prodigal’s culture has
made this an easy and exciting move – I couldn’t be happier!’ says Scott.

Vijayan joins Prodigal
after an illustrious stint at Goldman Sachs where he advised software and new
technology companies on late-stage fundraising, capital markets transactions,
and mergers and acquisitions. He has held prior operating and investing roles
at Apple and ITC.

Vijayan has toyed with the
idea of joining an early-stage startup for over a decade now, and finally found
his fit at Prodigal. “Much like our investors, in addition to all the right
hygiene markers, I see great potential in Prodigal’s unique vertical software
thesis and the founding team’s ability to execute. I am excited to join the
Prodigal team at this stage to further develop our strategy and bring metrics-based rigor to our operations,” he said. Vijayan holds an MBA from Harvard
Business School and brings complementarity to the strategy and finance side of
things at Prodigal.

About Prodigal

Prodigal is a pioneer of
Collection Intelligence, a new category of software, which enables lenders,
debt buyers, law firms and collection agencies to quickly and efficiently
collect accounts receivables. Prodigal’s Collection Intelligence platform
delivers actionable insights that help maximize revenue, improve agent
productivity, and minimize compliance risk. With Prodigal’s Collection
Intelligence platform, senior executives have complete intelligence about
aggregated agent productivity, and FDCPA/TCPA non-compliance in real-time — an
imperative for a modern collections business in an increasingly regulated
environment.

Through a press release issued on September 22, 2021, CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio announced the
appointment of new members to the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB), Community Bank
Advisory Council (CBAC), Credit Union Advisory Council (CUAC), and Academic
Research Council (ARC). These committee members will advise Bureau leadership
on a broad range of consumer financial issues and emerging market trends.

The
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act charges the CFPB with
establishing a CAB to advise and consult with the Bureau’s Director on a
variety of consumer financial issues. The Bureau also created three councils:
the CBAC, CUAC, and ARC. The CBAC and CUAC advise and consult with the Bureau
on consumer financial issues related to community banks and credit unions. The
ARC advises the Bureau on its strategic research planning process and research
agenda and provides feedback on research methodologies, data collection
strategies, and methods of analysis, including methodologies and strategies for
quantifying the costs and benefits of regulatory actions.

The
committee members include experts in consumer protection, financial services,
consumer lending, economic justice, and consumer financial products and
services, as well as representatives of community banks and credit unions.
Advisory committee membership reflects the expertise across the range of issues
under the Bureau’s jurisdiction. Committee members serve two-year terms.

The
following members will serve on each of their respective committees:

Consumer Advisory Board (CAB)

• Leigh Phillips (Chair), President and CEO,
  SaverLife (San Francisco, CA)

• Joaquin Altoro, Chief Executive Officer,
  Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority (Madison, WI)

• Lorray Brown, Attorney/Consumer Law
  Attorney/Co-Director, Michigan Poverty Law Program (Ypsilanti, MI)

• Louis Caditz-Peck, Director, Public Policy,
  LendingClub (San Francisco, CA)

• Stephanie Carroll, Directing Attorney,
  Consumer Rights & Economic Justice, Public Counsel (Los Angeles, CA)

• David Ehrich, Executive Director, AIR –
  Alliance for Innovative Regulation (Washington, DC)

• Laurie Goodman, Director, Housing Finance
  Policy Center, Urban Institute (Washington, DC)

• Margaret Libby, Founder and CEO, MyPath (San
  Francisco, CA)

• Andres Navarrete, Executive Vice President,
  External Affairs, Capital One (McLean, VA)

• Beverly Ruggia, Financial Justice Program
  Director, New Jersey Citizen Action (Newark, NJ)

• Faith Schwartz, President, Housing Finance
  Strategies, LLC (Austin, TX)

• Ky Tran-Trong, Vice President and Associate
  General Counsel, Visa (Washington, DC)

• Pete Upton, Executive Director, Native360 Loan
  Fund, Inc. (Grand Island, NE)

• Mae Watson Grote, Founder and CEO, Change
  Machine (Brooklyn, NY)

Community Bank Advisory Council (CBAC)

• John Buhrmaster (Chair), President and CEO,
  First National Bank of Scotia (Scotia, NY)

• Barry Anderson, President – Chief Operations
  Officer, F&M Bank (Edmond, OK)

• Mary Buche, Senior Vice President/Consumer
  Lending Relationship Manager, Bank of Labor (Olathe, KS)

• Ronette Hauser-Jones, Mortgage Division
  President, Great Plains Bank (Oklahoma City, OK)

• Todd McDonald, Senior Vice President/Board
  Director, Liberty Bank & Trust Company (New Orleans, LA)

• Rebecca Melton, Senior Vice President/Chief
  Credit Officer, The National Bank of Blacksburg (Blacksburg, VA)

• Kristina Schaefer, General Counsel & Chief
  Risk Officer, Fishback Financial Corporation/First Bank & Trust (Brookings,
  SD)

• Michael Tucker, Chief Executive Officer,
  Greenfield Cooperative Bank (Greenfield, MA)

Credit Union Advisory Council (CUAC)

• Jose Iregui (Chair), Vice-President of
  Consumer Lending, Langley Federal Credit Union (Newport News, VA)

• Michael Daugherty, President, Community Plus
  Federal Credit Union (Rantoul, IL)

• Monica Davis, Senior Vice President Risk
  Management, Union Square Credit Union (Wichita Falls, TX)

• Michelle Dwyer, President/CEO, Franklin First
  Federal Credit Union (Greenfield, MA)

• Jeff Ivey, President/CEO, River City Federal
  Credit Union (San Antonio, TX)

• Jeremiah Kossen, President/CEO, Town and
  Country Credit Union (Minot, SD)

• Michael Levy, General Counsel, Travis Credit
  Union (Vacaville, CA)

• Deborah Wreden, EVP, Product & Delivery
  Strategy, Virginia Credit Union (Richmond, VA)        

Academic Research Council (ARC)

• Vicki Bogan (Chair), Associate Professor,
  Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

• Mathieu Despard, Associate Professor,
  University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)

• Eric Johnson, Norman Eig Professor of
  Business, Columbia University (New York, NY)

• Michael Staten, Professor and Associate Dean,
  University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)

• Anthony Yezer, Professor of Economics, George
  Washington University (Washington, DC)

insideARM perspective:

When Reg F goes into effect on November 30, 2021, it will undoubtedly affect consumers and the debt collection industry. While consumer advocates and lenders are well represented on the CAB, it is a bit disappointing that even with such a monumental regulation about to go into effect, the ARM industry is not represented.  Of course, it is possible that these boards will be focusing on other issues, but it is hard to imagine that Reg F won’t be part of the conversation.

The Consumer Relations Consortium (CRC) has continued its efforts to provide Nevada insight into the untended consequences of its newly enacted Medical Debt Collection law (SB248) which went into effect July 1, 2021.

On June 24, 2021, the CRC sent an email to Nevada asking questions about SB248, outlining the gaps in the law,  and highlighting the law’s unintended harmful consequences to consumers. On July 1, 2021, Nevada responded to the CRC’s questions but did not address unintended harms to consumers.

On August 31, 2021, Nevada issued proposed regulations regarding SB 248 and simultaneously asked for comments from small businesses. The CRC regulatory steering committee discussed the draft proposed regulations and on September 9, 2021, submitted this comment to the Nevada Financial Institutions Division. 

In its comment, the CRC explained that the proposed regulations do not resolve the unintended harms SB248 will inflict upon consumers including the following: 

• The proposed regulations do not provide a safe means for a debt collector to respond to a consumer’s inquiry regarding a balance within the 60-day notice window. Debt collectors can only terminate calls instead of responding to ensure compliance.

• The proposed regulations will continue to deprive consumers of their rights under the FDCPA.

• The certified mail requirement in SB248 will harm consumers in that fewer consumers will actually receive the notice required by SB248.

• SB248 will continue to harm consumers who try to pay by mail since the proposed regulations did not provide guidance regarding how to respond to this subset of consumers.

• The proposed regulations did not resolve the undue stress consumers will suffer by requiring debt collectors to provide a credit reporting disclosure, even where the debt collector might not credit report.

On September 16, 2021, the Nevada Financial Institutions Division confirmed receipt of the CRC’s comment and confirmed it will be included in the record. 

About the Consumer Relations Consortium

The Consumer Relations Consortium (CRC) is a membership group for forward-thinking organizations that wish to influence the direction of collections compliance, legal strategy, and regulatory policy. The CRC is comprised of more than 60 national companies representing the diverse ecosystem of debt collection including creditors, data/technology providers, and compliance-oriented debt collectors that are larger market participants. Established in 2013, CRC is evolving the debt collection paradigm by engaging stakeholders—including consumer advocates, Federal and State regulators, academic and industry thought leaders, creditors, and debt collectors—and challenging them to move beyond talking points and focus on fashioning real-world solutions that actually improve the consumer experience. CRC is managed by The iA Institute. 

Learn more at www.crconsortium.org.

About the iA institute

The iA Institute is a media company that provides news, education, events and connection for professionals in consumer finance. The iA team believes the value of your time and investment in our content should be undeniable, so we thoughtfully design everything we do with a focus on the details that make a difference. Our initiatives include the flagship website and newsletter insideARM; the Consumer Relations Consortium (CRC) and iA Innovation Council membership groups; the iA Research Assistant and Case Law Tracker premium subscriptions; the iA Strategy & Tech digital conference; and the uniquely engaging annual Women in Consumer Finance event. iA is a certified Woman-Owned business.

Learn more at www.theiainstitute.com.