On November 15, the CFPB issued a report, titled “The CFPB Language Access Plan for consumers with limited English proficiency,” on expanding consumer needs in the financial marketplace for individuals with limited English proficiency. The CFPB released this report consistent with the mandates under E.O. 13166 to “educate and empower all consumers, provide information and assistance to traditionally underserved consumer and communities, enforce fair lending laws, and promote an equitable workforce for all consumers.”

The CFPB cites that 22 percent of the U.S. population over the age of five speak a language other than English at home. The CFPB commits itself to ensuring that tools, programs, and services are available to those who need language assistance by (i) understanding the needs of the population; (ii) conducting outreach and engagement; (iii) providing products and services in eight different languages other than English; and (iv) promoting fair and equitable access to the financial marketplace.

The CFPB’s report also lists several public enforcement actions involving communicating with consumer with limited English proficiency. The report mainly outlines how well the agency does in addressing the diverse language needs of the U.S. population, including translated disclosures, websites, and outreach and engagement sessions.

WILMINGTON, Del. –November 2023 – Phillips & Cohen Associates, Ltd. (PCA), the global leader in deceased account care servicing and technology solutions, servicing clients in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and Germany is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Husband as Global Chief Financial Officer.

Robert is a highly experienced global business leader who has spent nearly 20 years in senior executive roles across the Financial Services and Fintech sectors. Following various international CFO roles, Robert became CEO of Provident Mexico, a sub-prime lending business, which he led to become the largest home credit company in the country. More recently, he held the position of CEO of Tower Street Finance, the pioneering inheritance funding business in the UK. Robert brings a wealth of business experience across consumer lending, collections, and the probate sectors. He has worked in publicly listed companies and private equity backed startups.

Adam S. Cohen, Co-Chairman/CEO commented, “We are delighted to add a dynamic leader such as Robert to our executive team. These are exciting times for our organization as we look to transform our already strong customer led propositions, while introducing new products and entering new markets. Robert’s extensive knowledge and international experience will be significant assets to Phillips & Cohen Associates as we continue to drive growth in Europe, Asia and the Americas.”  

On his appointment, Robert commented “I am delighted to be joining Adam, Matt and the rest of the Executive team at this exciting time for Phillips & Cohen Associates. The company is uniquely positioned, and I look forward to supporting them in the delivery of their ambitious growth plans, both domestically and internationally.”

Matthew Phillips, Co-Chairman/CEO of Phillips & Cohen commented, “We are thrilled to have an executive of Robert’s caliber join the organization to lead our finance & accounting teams. He brings extensive sector expertise, product knowledge and a drive that matches our own.”

About Phillips & Cohen Associates, Ltd. 

Phillips & Cohen Associates, Ltd. is a specialty receivable management company providing customized services to creditors in a variety of unique market segments.  Phillips & Cohen Associates, Ltd is domestically headquartered in Wilmington, DE, with additional offices in Colorado and Florida as well as international offices in the UK, Canada, Spain, Germany, and Australia.  For more information about Phillips & Cohen Associates visit www.phillips-cohen.com. PCA provides Equal Employment Opportunity for all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, genetic information, and any other basis protected by federal, state, or local laws.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Spring Oaks Capital, LLC is pleased to announce the hiring of Andrea Beck as Director of Human Resources. Andrea will be based in the Company’s headquarters in Chesapeake, VA and report directly to President & CEO, Tim Stapleford.

Andrea joins Spring Oaks Capital with broad HR experience in a call center environment, most recently as Human Resources Director at Canon Information Technology Services, Inc. As the HR Director at Spring Oaks Capital, Andrea will be at the forefront of the Company’s people-centric approach, incorporating her strategic vision and operational expertise to drive the development of our workforce and high-growth environment.

Spring Oaks Capital’s President and CEO, Tim Stapleford, stated, “We are excited to welcome Andrea to our world-class team. Andrea will foster a culture of engagement, innovation, and collaboration, while ensuring legal compliance and implementation of Spring Oak’s mission and talent strategy.”

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Andrea added, “I am thrilled to be joining Spring Oaks Capital during such an exciting time for the Company. I look forward to working with their highly experienced management team and contributing to the Company’s increasing success.”

About Spring Oaks Capital, LLC

Spring Oaks Capital is a national financial technology company, focused on the acquisition of credit portfolios. The Company subscribes to an employee and consumer-centric operating philosophy that creates high-value jobs, a significant performance lift, and the highest standards of compliance. Spring Oaks’ business strategy is rooted in innovative data-driven technology to maximize collection results and a contact platform that offers multi-channel options to meet each consumer’s communication preference. Spring Oaks has the management vision and experience to nurture a culture and DNA that is unique in the space. To learn more about Spring Oaks, please visit www.springoakscapital.com.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a summary order affirming a district court’s holding that an emailed response to the plaintiff’s email did not constitute an “initial communication” under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).

In Worley v. Simon, Meyrowitz & Meyrowitz, P.C., the plaintiff had a default judgment entered against her in state court for failure to pay rent. Approximately two years later, the plaintiff contacted her former landlord explaining she was having technical difficulties paying the balance through the landlord’s portal. That same day, the landlord responded to the plaintiff via email informing her that her case was with the defendant collection firm who was copied on the email. The plaintiff then sent an email to the defendant’s collection law firm stating: “[p]lease add to case file thank you.” A few days later, the law firm responded to the plaintiff via email to provide the outstanding balance.

The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the law firm for alleged violations of the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692e(11) and 1692g(a). Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that by sending the email the law firm improperly attempted to collect what it knew to be an unlawful debt stemming from the state-court judgment. The district court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint with prejudice finding, among other things, that the email at issue did not constitute an “initial communication,” as required for certain claims under the FDCPA, because it was sent in response to an email from the plaintiff.

The plaintiff appealed relying on Second Circuit precedent for the proposition that a communication from a debt collector sent in reply to a communication from a consumer can still sometimes be deemed an “initial communication” under the FDCPA. However, the court found the plaintiff’s reliance misplaced because she was never “prompted” by the law firm to contact it regarding the debt. Here, the law firm sent the email at issue in response to the plaintiff’s unprompted communications. As such, the court held it does not constitute an “initial communication” for purposes of the FDCPA.

The court also upheld the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s remaining claims under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine because the injuries alleged were the result of the state-court judgment and were thus barred.

NEW YORK, NY — Skit.ai, the leading
provider of conversational Voice AI solutions, announced today its partnership
with Forest Recovery Services, a third-party collection agency headquartered in
South Carolina focused on medical, municipal, and other types of debt. By enhancing
its recovery strategy with Skit.ai’s Augmented Voice Intelligence platform,
Forest Recovery Services plans to significantly expand its outbound calling
efforts and maximize account penetration.

Throughout 2023,
Skit.ai has emerged as the accounts receivables industry’s preferred Voice AI
solution provider to automate phone conversations with consumers, including
right-party contact (RPC) verification and promise-to-pay (PTP) capture. The
solution is fully compliant with federal and state regulations, enabling
lenders and collection agencies to accelerate revenue recovery and grow their
operations.

“We recently
experienced a significant expansion of our account base since acquiring a new
collection agency. The adoption of Skit.ai’s Voice AI solution has already
resulted in a 10X increase in our outbound collection efforts,” said John Berquist, Owner of Forest Recovery
Services. “With one client’s portfolio in particular, we witnessed a 160%
spike in collections. The results have been remarkable.”

Consumers have
responded positively to the voicebot, appreciating its ability to smoothly
engage in two-way conversations with a natural-sounding flow. The voicebot
transfers the call to a live agent whenever the consumers request it, providing
real-time access to the interaction’s background and context.

“As the accounts
receivables industry experiences an important phase of digital transformation,
it is highly encouraging to see the commitment of Forest Recovery Services to
innovation and its preliminary success with Skit.ai’s Voice AI solution,” said Sourabh Gupta, Founder and CEO of Skit.ai.

Dozens of companies
across the U.S., both large and small, have deployed Skit.ai’s Voice AI
solution to enhance and automate their debt recovery strategy.

Schedule a meeting
to learn more about how Skit.ai can help you accelerate revenue recovery with
higher efficiency and at an infinite scale.

About Forest Recovery Services:

Forest Recovery Services is a collection
agency headquartered in South Carolina. Forest Recovery Services proudly
employs a team of seasoned collection professionals.  The agency focuses on various types of debt,
including medical, municipal, and rental property. Visit https://forestrecoveryservices.com/

About Skit.ai:

Skit.ai is the
accounts receivables industry’s leading conversational Voice AI company,
enabling collection agencies to streamline and accelerate revenue recovery.
Skit.ai’s compliant, configurable, and easy-to-deploy solution enables
enterprises to automate nearly one million weekly consumer conversations.
Skit.ai has been awarded several awards and recognitions, including Stevie Gold
Winner 2023 for Most Innovative Company by The International Business Awards,
Disruptive Technology of the Year 2022 by CCW, and Gold Globee CEO Awards 2022.
Skit.ai is headquartered in New York City, NY. Visit https://skit.ai/

On October 31, 2023 a district court in Nevada held that an undated, model form debt validation notice does not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). In Bergida v. PlusFour, Inc., the defendant sent a debt validation letter to the plaintiff that followed the model form provided by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The letter was not dated. The plaintiff claimed the letter violated FDCPA §§ 1692d, e, f, and g because she could not determine what date was “today” and “now,” which allegedly misled her about the status of the debt, confused her, made the letter seem illegitimate and suspicious, and caused her to spend time and money trying to figure out whether the debt was valid. When considering the defendant’s motion to dismiss, the court applied the least sophisticated debtor standard and found that the plaintiff failed to state a claim.

The court rejected the defendant’s claim that using the CFPB model validation notice provided it a safe harbor from suit. The court noted that while Regulation F states use of the model letter provides a safe harbor from claims under 12 C.F.R. §§ 1006.347(c) and (d)(1), the safe harbor provision does not shield debt collectors from liability under any other statutes.

However, an analysis of the plaintiff’s claims under the FDCPA still resulted in judgment in the defendant’s favor. The court found the defendant did not violate § 1692g(a), which requires the debt collector to state the amount of the debt. Nothing in § 1692g(a) requires a date on the notice and the plaintiff did not plausibly allege how omitting the date impacted information about the amount due. The court noted the model notice does not include a date either.

Similarly, there was no overshadowing in violation of § 1692g(b). The plaintiff claimed that without a date, she could not verify the defendant sent her the notice within five days of the initial communication and provided her 30 days to respond. The court noted there was no allegation of any prior communication and because the 30-day time period begins from the date of receipt of the letter, the date it was sent is irrelevant.

The plaintiff’s remaining claims fared no better. The court agreed with the defendant that not including a date on a letter does not rise to the level of harassment, oppression, or abuse prohibited by § 1692d. The plaintiff asserted a violation of § 1692e(2)(A) alleging the letter falsely represented the true character or status of the debt, but failed to state how the information in the letter was false or incorrect. Her claims under §§ 1692e(10) and (g) that the lack of a date made the letter false and misleading because she was unsure about its legitimacy failed because a least sophisticated debtor would not be misled about the legitimacy of the letter simply because it did not have a date. The district court rejected the plaintiff’s § 1692f claim that failing to include a date omitted a material term from the letter which prevented her from making an educated decision. Even for the least sophisticated debtor, the court found, the letter itself offered ways to validate the communication.

The court ultimately granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss, holding that the plaintiff could amend her complaint only if she could assert other conduct that would support a violation of the FDCPA.

DULUTH, Ga. — Crown Asset Management, a receivables acquisition and management firm near Atlanta, GA, was thrilled to participate in a successful Habitat for Humanity build day in Loganville, GA as September drew to a close. The weather was perfect, and the team showed up in full force to put in the work necessary to make a full day’s effort toward the build. 

Gwinnett / Walton Habitat for Humanity

The CAM team partnered with their local Gwinnett / Walton Habitat for Humanity organization to take part in a nearby build for a full volunteer workday. 

“It was a highly successful day, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team for their hard work in making it a worthwhile effort. It is always rewarding to join together and use the combined power of teamwork and work ethic to make an impact right here in our community. We were honored and privileged to have the opportunity to take part in building the future home of a local hard working family who was carefully selected and extremely grateful as the recipients of this new home,” said Brian Williams, CEO at Crown Asset. 

Affordable Housing Worldwide

Habitat for Humanity is a well-known global nonprofit organization dedicated to building affordable homes through volunteer labor, new homeowner sweat equity, donor funding, and no profit from sales (including no-interest mortgages). Founded in 1976, the international operational headquarters are located in Americus, Georgia with the administrative headquarters located in Atlanta. 

Potential homeowners must submit to an application process including criminal background and credit checks, income review, and ability/willingness to pay an affordable mortgage. Additional requirements may include workshop attendance (for financial literacy, home/yard maintenance, and more) as well as a required number of hours of “sweat equity” building the home or the homes of others in the program. Local locations exist all over the US and around the world, and some selection criteria/future homeowner requirements are made at the local level. 

To learn more about Crown Asset Management or their community involvement initiatives, visit crownasset.com. 

About Crown Asset Management

Founded in 2004, Crown Asset Management, LLC, is a professional receivables management firm that outsources purchased accounts to a nationwide, proprietary network of collection agencies and law firms. Crown’s mission is to continually strive to enhance the ethical and respectful treatment of consumers, while providing an inclusive working environment for its dedicated, knowledgeable, and innovative team. Crown Asset Management is an RMAI Certified Receivables Business headquartered in Duluth, GA.

On November 7, the CFPB proposed a rule to supervise large non-bank fintech firms that offer services like digital wallets and payment apps, applicable to larger firms handling greater than 5 million transactions per year, in the same way many large banks and credit unions are supervised. While fintech agencies offer consumer banking services, they are not regulated as stringently as banks are.

The CFPB found that many consumers from middle- and lower-income backgrounds now prefer using digital consumer payment applications over cash. This shift from traditional banking puts consumers at risk since fintech  applications are not subject to “traditional banking safeguards… like deposit insurance.” The CFPB’s proposed rule ensures these non-bank companies:

• Adhere to federal consumer financial protection laws that encompass protections against unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices, consumers’ rights when transferring money, and privacy rights. The CFPB would supervise larger participants to ensure compliance.

• Follow the same rules as banks and credit unions, fostering fair competition and consistent enforcement of federal consumer financial protection laws.

The Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) provides the CFPB with the authority to conduct supervisory examinations over all non-bank companies in the mortgage, payday loan, and private student loan industries, as well as those who serve as service providers to banks and credit unions. In addition, the CFPB can supervise individual entities that pose a risk to consumers, as well as larger participants in other markets. This proposed rule would give the CFPB greater regulatory authority and oversight over large technology firms in consumer financial markets.

GENESEO, N.Y. — Coast Professional, Inc.(Coast), a leading firm specializing in contact center and Accounts Receivable Management (ARM), is pleased to announce the appointment of Matthew Isaacson as Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Isaacson brings over 20 years of extensive experience in designing and executing highly successful sales, marketing, and brand strategies, with expertise in ARM, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and leadership.

In his role as Vice President of Business Development, Mr. Isaacson will spearhead Coast’s sales strategy and lead the company’s sales team. His responsibilities include driving revenue growth, nurturing client relationships in established and emerging sectors, and analyzing industry trends to enhance the sales process.

“Matt’s track record in increasing revenue and leading high-performing teams make him an outstanding fit for this key role,” said Micah Pulliam, President & Chief Financial Officer of Coast. “We believe that his extensive career journey and financial acumen will undoubtedly steer Coast to sustained success and growth while delivering top-tier services to our clients.”

Mr. Isaacson’s experience includes partnering with growing businesses in a diverse range of sectors, including Professional Services (in areas such as ARM, BPO, and Revenue Cycle Management), Banking/Financial Services, Energy/Utility, Government, Healthcare, Non-Profit, Private Equity, and Retail/e-Commerce. His expertise lies in optimizing revenue teams, processes, and initiatives. 

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Mr. Isaacson’s professional accomplishments are supported by a Bachelor of Science from St. Cloud State University. He has also devoted substantial time to community service, with key roles in organizations such as the Minority Business Growth Alliance, the Brighter Days Family Grief Center, and Fairview Health Services of Minneapolis. 

“Coast has full confidence in Matt’s extensive experience, unwavering dedication, and passion for fostering growth, making him an invaluable asset to the company’s leadership team,” remarked Jonathan Prince, CEO of Coast. “His appointment as Vice President of Business Development marks an exciting new milestone for Coast, and we look forward to significant success with Matt as an integral part of our business development efforts.”

About Coast Professional, Inc.:

Coast Professional, Inc. is a contact center and accounts receivable management company dedicated to respectful and ethical communication with consumers. Coast provides essential collection and business process outsourcing services to hundreds of campuses, universities, federal, state, and county governments, municipalities, and courts. Coast is an eight-time honoree on the Inc. 5000 list for America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies provided by Inc. Magazine and in 2021, was distinguished for the sixth time as one of the “Best Places to Work In Collections” by insideARM.com and Best Companies Group. More about Coast can be found at www.coastprofessional.com.