New York City’s Department of Consumer Affiairs (DCA) has adopted amendments related to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) consumers into its debt collection rules. The amendment was initially proposed on March 5, 2020, and a public hearing was held on April 10, 2020—just at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic scramble that led most businesses to send employees home to work. DCA states it received no comments.

The amended rules, which become effective on June 27, 2020, deal mainly with how debt collectors interact with LEP consumers. According to the rule’s Statement of Basis and Purpose, debt collectors will be required to:

• Inform consumers—in any initial collection notice and on any public-facing websites maintained by the collector—of the availability of any language access services provided by the collector and of a translation and description of commonly-used debt collection terms in a consumer’s preferred language on the Department’s website;
• Request, record, and retain, to the extent reasonably possible, a record of the language preference of each consumer from whom the collector attempts to collect a debt; and
• Maintain a report identifying, by language, the number of consumer accounts on which an employee of the collector attempted to collect a debt in a language other than English, and the number of employees that attempted to collect on such accounts.

The amendment also includes a prohibition against:

• Providing false, inaccurate, or incomplete translations of any communication to a consumer in the course of attempting to collect a debt; and
• Misrepresenting or omitting a consumer’s language preference when returning, selling, or referring for litigation any consumer account, where the debt collector is aware of such preference.

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The new rules as amended can be found here. 

insideARM has learned that the glossary of terms referenced in the new rules is not yet ready for publication and that the Department does not plan to provide approved or model language for any of the disclosures. Also, as of the time of this publication, we could locate no details about the April 10th hearing regarding who testified, what was said, or whether or not it occurred virtually or live during NYC’s shelter in place order.

The insideARM Perspective

It’s fairly clear why the Department received no comments on this proposed rule. The timeframe covered by this process coincided with the most intense period of the shutdown caused by the pandemic. While this is an important matter, there would have been no available bandwidth to provide thoughtful input.

Unless an extension for implementation is granted, this will certainly be a scramble for collection agencies that communicate with New York City consumers. But a note to creditors: This also requires new actions from you if you do not currently store, share, and receive language preferences –in a manner that is searchable and actionable– with vendors working on your behalf. 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO), announced it has entered into an agreement with Telrock to offer its cloud-based collection and recovery software platform, Optimus, to PSCU Owners and other credit unions to improve their overall delinquent account management performance. 

Through this partnership, both PSCU and CU Recovery & The Loan Service Center, a PSCU company, will leverage Telrock’s leading-edge collection and recovery software platform to help credit unions achieve a higher level of efficiency, effectiveness and compliance across all products for both first- and third-party collections.  

“Performing and managing delinquent account activities is becoming increasingly complex and demanding, especially as we navigate the COVID-19 environment and the increased delinquencies we anticipate as a result of the pandemic,” said Steve Balmer, managing vice president of Delinquency Management for PSCU. “With Optimus, we will be in the unique position of having an expanded and enhanced set of collection and recovery capabilities that we will utilize to improve our own results, as well as make the platform easily available to credit unions for use in their own delinquency management efforts.”

Optimus’ key capabilities include a “smart” collector workbench with easy and secure access, embedded digital channel communications and omni-channel management to best align with consumer contact preferences, as well as an integrated self-serve web portal for member do-it-yourself (DIY) collection payment empowerment.

“It is the sum of its parts that enables Optimus to stand out from the outmoded legacy collection and recovery software systems in use today,” said Rob Fite, vice president of Business Development for Telrock. “Optimus was built from the ground up based on modern technology and intelligent design for use in the cloud. The result is a unified platform that provides a broad and powerful set of features and functions that enables the collection of any credit product during any stage of delinquency. With Optimus, PSCU and the credit unions it serves are gaining an unparalleled level of control, agility, flexibility, automation, insight and ease of use, all of which are critical features needed to succeed in today’s highly challenging collections environment.” 

Optimus will be available to Owner and non-Owner credit unions through PSCU and CU Recovery & The Loan Service Center. For more information, contact bdsupport@curecovery.com.

About PSCU

PSCU, the nation’s premier payments CUSO, supports the success of 1,500 credit unions representing more than 3.8 billion transactions annually. Committed to service excellence and focused on innovation, PSCU’s payment processing, risk management, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital banking, marketing, strategic consulting and mobile platforms help deliver possibilities and seamless member experiences. Comprehensive, 24/7/365 member support is provided by contact centers located throughout the United States. The origin of PSCU’s model is collaboration and scale, and the company has leveraged its influence on behalf of credit unions and their members for more than 40 years. Today, PSCU provides an end-to-end, competitive advantage that enables credit unions to securely grow and meet evolving consumer demands. For more information, visit pscu.com. 

About Telrock

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, and London, England, Telrock is a global technology provider of SaaS-based software solutions for enterprise-wide collections and recovery, and digital channel customer engagement. Their clients include major banks, other credit providers, and business process-outsource companies in North America and Europe. Telrock’s solutions are SaaS-based; are built on highly scalable modern, open-source technologies; and are deployed in secure PCI-compliant data centers. 

Visit www.telrock.com to learn more or contact:

North America: Rob Fite at +1-678-451-9975 or rob.fite@telrock.com 

EMEA: Nigel Young at +44 (0) 207 183 1573 or nigel.young@telrock.com 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Continental Service Group, Inc., d/b/a ConServe, proudly announces that they were named one of the 2020 Wealth of Health award finalist by Rochester Business Journal (RBJ) in the category of Top Employers.  ConServe was selected by a panel of judges based on their commitment to encourage and foster healthy behaviors in their workplace.  

Each year, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and the RBJ honor Rochester area employers who promote health and wellness in the workplace.  ConServe is included among several local establishments including ESL Federal Credit Union, Monroe Community College and University of Rochester.  

“To be recognized as a finalist for this award is an honor,” said George Huyler, Vice President of Human Resources at ConServe.  “At ConServe, we are dedicated to investing in our employees and providing them with extensive support and comprehensive benefit packages. The health and well-being of our employees and their families is very important to us.  Our top three wellness programs include improving employee health and well-being; mentally, physically, and emotionally, lowering healthcare costs, and making access to healthcare easier for our employees and their families.”

About ConServe

ConServe is a top-performing accounts receivable management service provider specializing in customized recovery solutions for their Clients. Anchored in ethics and compliance, and steadfast in their pursuit of excellence, they are a consumer-centric organization that operates as an extension of their Clients’ valued brands.  For over 35 years, they have partnered with their Clients to provide unmatched customer service while simultaneously helping them achieve their accounts receivable management goals.  

About the Wealth of Health Awards

Each year, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and the RBJ honor Rochester area employers who promote health and wellness in the workplace. Finalists will be celebrated through our new virtual format using multimedia storytelling. Guests will have the opportunity to participate in the program with their congratulations and cheers using social media platforms from their home or office.

In an in-depth 17-page-long decision, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reiterated its prior finding: plaintiffs in FDCPA cases must meet their appropriate burdens of proof, or else their claims fail. Specifically at issue in Johnson v. ERC, No. 19-1210 (7th Cir. June 9, 2020) was whether the plaintiff was required to provide extrinsic evidence on a claim that a credit reporting statement in a collection letter was false, deceptive, or misleading. In this case, the answer is yes. 

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So, What Happened?

ERC sent a series of collection letters on plaintiff’s delinquent Sprint debt. The letters contained a disclosure that the account “may be reported” to the credit bureaus. The letters that contained settlement offers also included statements that said paying the settlement amount would stop collection activity on the account, but that it would not restore services with Sprint. 

Plaintiff sued, alleging that the “may be reported” language was false, deceptive, or misleading. The crux of the plaintiff’s argument is that “may be reported” implies future reporting, whereas ERC had already reported the account. Plaintiff also argues that the letter misleads consumers into thinking that paying the settlement offer by the specific listed date would prevent credit reporting because collection activity would stop, which is allegedly false since the account was already reported.

District Court Decision

The district court issued two decisions in this case, both of which were appealed by the parties to the 7th Circuit. First, the district court denied ERC’s motion to dismiss, finding that it is plausible for some confusion to exist from the reading of the letter and that it is a question of fact. By denying the motion to dismiss, the court essentially allowed the parties to ask for and present evidence in the case. 

Later, the district court granted ERC’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the plaintiff failed to present evidence that the letter “would be confusing or misleading to a significant fraction of the population.” 

Both parties appealed the motions they lost.

7th Circuit Opinion

The most poignant part of the appellate decision is that the court reiterates that opinions and legal tests from other circuits don’t apply to false, deceptive, or misleading analysis for cases within the 7th Circuit. Specifically, in other circuits, simply showing that a letter could be read in two different ways, one of which is misleading, is sufficient to find a violation of the FDCPA. In the 7th Circuit, however, more is required. First, the 7th Circuit adopted the “unsophisticated consumer” test rather than the “least sophisticated consumer” test, since it does not believe that the standard applies should be from the bottom rung of the ladder. Second, the 7th Cir. applies a 3-pronged test to determine whether extrinsic evidence is required to determine whether a communication is false, deceptive or misleading. If it’s clear from the face of the communication that the letter is or is not false, deceptive or misleading, then no intrinsic evidence is required. However, if a letter is not misleading on its face but could be construed as such, then extrinsic evidence is required.

The court found that this latter prong applied to this case. The court states that the term “may” has two dictionary meanings. One indicates a future action—which is the plaintiff’s interpretation—the other indicates permission to do something—which is ERC’s interpretation. 

Plaintiff attempts to argue that its reading of the phrase “may be reported,” couples with the statement that collection activity will stop if payment is made, is false because the account was already reported. The court, however, states: 

[T]he fact that a statement explaining ERC’s power to report the delinquent debt is followed by another statement (in a new paragraph) explaining that paying the settlement amount will stop collection activity but not restore Johnson’s Sprint service is certainly not on its face a promise or guarantee that if the offered settlement is paid, then the delinquent debt will not be reported.

Because the latter prong applied, plaintiff needed to present extrinsic evidence to meet his burden on this claim. He did not, and therefore the district court properly granted summary judgment to ERC.

The court finishes with:

Our case law makes clear that mere speculation by the plaintiff that a collection letter is misleading is insufficient to survive a debt collector’s motion for summary judgment.

New Jersey — Maxwell and Graves Solutions (M&G Solutions), a consulting firm with expertise in collections and servicing in the financial lending space, announced the addition of industry veteran John Derdevanis as a Senior Consultant.   

John brings with him 25 years of financial services experience with the largest and most highly respected companies in the industry. He has worked with both large publicly traded companies and evolving startup firms. John holds a B.S. in Business Administration from James Madison University and an M.B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University.  

Most recently, John spent four years leading collections strategy and overseeing operational execution for a fintech lender experiencing exponential growth.  Brad Bone, Managing Partner of M&G Solutions, said “We’re very excited to have John join the team.   I have personally worked with John in numerous capacities over the last 20 years.  His depth of experience and capabilities in areas such as the auto finance sector, technology design, analytics, and work force management will complement our growing team of seasoned executives.”

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About Maxwell & Graves Solutions, LLC

M&G Solutions is an industry leading consulting firm with expertise delivering world class operational performance and execution in the financial lending space. M&G Solutions combines years of first-hand experience working for Fortune 500 and other innovative companies within financial service, BPO and Fintech industries to help our clients identify, deliver and sustain the necessary enhancements to drive their business. To learn more, visit www.maxgraves.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

OGDEN, Utah — Payment hub and digital communication software company PDCflow today announced Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Ed Bills as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the organization. As COO, Bills will be responsible for all operations within the company. 

In his time with PDCflow, he has been instrumental in driving the in-house development team to an agile methodology that focuses on user needs for PDCflow clients and their consumers who use the software to make payments. Bills will continue to drive this customer-centered focus throughout all areas of company operation in his new role.

“PDCflow’s mission of delivering convenience is more important than ever in these uncertain times,” says Bills. “Our services enable our customers and partners to operate remotely, improve security and efficiency, and reduce legal and compliance related risks. We will continue to develop innovative solutions that allow our customers and partners to operate with confidence as the workspace continues to evolve.” 

In his previous role as CTO, Bills oversaw the development, implementation and improvement of PDCflow’s accounts receivable software. With his leadership, the software has transformed beyond a payment engine to become a secure digital communication platform for AR teams to collect payments via email and text. 

With this FLOW Technology, remote and in-office agents can take payments in real time without having access to sensitive consumer credit card data effectively reducing risk and PCI compliance scope.

Bills joined PDCflow in 2015. Previously, he held various Software Development and Product Leadership roles in the Court, Prosecutor, and Defender case management space overseeing the software that runs some of the nation’s largest legal systems.

About PDCflow

PDCflow is a robust payment hub that empowers accounts receivable teams to engage consumers through digital communication and payment channels. The software gives businesses flexibility and control over secure payment collection methods that include email, text, online payments, IVR, and web chat.

Flexible and customizable APIs allow platforms to easily integrate giving their users the ability to accept payments through multi-channels and methods while keeping their software out of PCI scope. Account Management platforms save on the cost and time of PCI compliance while still having control over their user experience.

Programming and customer operations for PDCflow’s national client base have been completed in-house in Ogden, Utah, since the company’s founding in 2003. Find out more about PDCflow on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or visit https://www.pdcflow.com/.

This video is part of the iA Think Differently series. Written by or recorded with members of the iA Innovation Council, the series showcases thought leadership in analytics, communications, payments, and compliance technology for the accounts receivable management industry.

—

Today I’m talking with Cheryl Kananowicz, President of Financial Services for RevSpring. They deliver consumer engagement and payment solutions that balance print and digital channels to optimize cost and outcomes.  Cheryl shared her organization’s focus on making clients comfortable with RevSpring’s readiness and disaster planning, and we discussed expectations for the future of successfully communicating with consumers.

[Editor’s note: If you are interested in topics like strategy, testing and scenario planning, you should not miss insideARM’s next conference, iA Strategy & Tech – a completely virtual event – July 21-23. It’s a masterclass in collections strategy.] 

Transcript

The iA Innovation Council is a collaborative working group of product, tech, strategy, and operations thought leaders at the forefront of analytics, communications, payments, and compliance technology. Group members meet in person (and lately, virtually) several times each year to engage in substantive dialogue and whiteboard sessions with the creative thinkers behind the latest innovations for the industry, the regulators who audit and establish guardrails for new technology, and educators, entrepreneurs and innovators from outside the industry who inspire different thinking. 

2020 members include:

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Yesterday, the Commissioner of Nevada’s Department of Business and Indusry, Financial Institutions Division issued a letter that allows collection agnecies to re-open. This comes as an unexpected turn of events, considering that just last week, Nevada’s governor issued a declaration that, by implication, extended the outbound collection ban to June 30. The declaration stated that any directive not explicitly mentioned in the document is extended, and the document was silent on outbound collections.

The Commissioner’s letter states:

NFID would like to advise collection agency licensees that they may operate their business while following all remaining Emergency Directives issued by Governor Sisolak, any guidance issued by any state agency, any Justice Court Orders for each jurisdiction, and comply with all applicable state and federal laws. As well as, following all health and safety guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the State of Nevada.

The governor’s declaration from last week contains guidance on safely reopening businesses at this time. A screenclip of the guidance is below.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on the Maurice Wutscher blog and is republished here with permission.

—

On June 1, the Office of the California Attorney General filed its proposed Final Text of Regulations relating to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) with the California Office of Administrative Law.  

The regulations are identical to the Second Modified Regulations issued by the attorney general on March 11. Any changes would have required an additional notice and comment period.

Pursuant to the California Administrative Procedure Act, the OAL has 30 days to review the attorney general’s documents to ensure compliance with rulemaking standards.  This means the regulations could become effective and enforceable by July 1, 2020, the deadline set forth in the CCPA.  The attorney general notes, however, that the 30-day review period could be extended an additional 60 days pursuant to the COVID-19 Executive Order N-40-20 issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 30.

The attorney general’s website contains an impressive amount of information relating to its CCPA rulemaking process, including:

• the reasons for each modification made since the original proposed regulation;
• its responses to comments submitted, with cross references to the specific parties that submitted the comments; and
• transcripts from the four public hearings.

The CCPA became effective on Jan. 1, 2020, and the filing of the regulations marks the near end to what has been an eight-month rulemaking process.  It is anticipated the OAL will approve the regulations, so businesses subject to the CCPA should follow through with final updates to their CCPA policies and procedures. The attorney general can seek civil penalties up $2,500 for each non-intentional violation and up to $7,500 for each intentional violation.

This is from a poem by Warsan Shire:

later that night

i held an atlas in my lap

ran my fingers across the whole world

and whispered

where does it hurt?

it answered

everywhere

everywhere

everywhere.

Once upon a time in March we had a pandemic and it was terrible and we all united — until we started to unravel and some people felt entitled; that rules of behavior don’t apply to their freedom; and not wearing a mask and demanding haircuts and manicures became political rhetoric. 

We could handle that. We could hold those people whose behavior put others at risk accountable. We were all in the pandemic together.  

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African American man, was murdered by Derek Chauvin, an on-duty police officer in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. There are ways to soften this, to make it palatable to people who don’t want to believe that the police force in America may have a systemic racism problem. We can call it manslaughter. We can call it an accident. But those are political ways of minimizing and mitigating the truly horrendous violence perpetrated against George Floyd, against George Floyd’s family, and against Black and Brown Americans across this country. 

But we’re adults. We can call a thing what it is. And this was a murder. And our country is the worse for it. 

insideARM condemns, in the strongest terms, the murder of George Floyd and the harmful actions against the protesters, who are using their Constitutional right to assemble together. We also strongly condemn the violence against marginalized communities that is baked into the American Way of Life. We certainly do not condone such activity at insideARM; we are hopeful that others feel that way, too. 

Our politics may not align. However, we’re an industry that touches the lives of many Americans — documented, undocumented, working, not working, well-off, and poor, and every skin tone and race in this country. And each deserves the dignity of a life lived without daily physical fear from the systems in the country they live in. And our systems — our police system, our carceral system, our welfare systems, our financial systems — are all deeply affected by systemic racism and violence against marginalized communities. 

But there are things that bring us hope: Seeing the many, many people taking to the streets to protest the murder of an American citizen not by another citizen, but by a police officer, whose duty is to protect and serve, is very hopeful — especially during a pandemic, where gathering together in crowds is not without significant risk. The conversations that are happening in call centers with employees across the nation, about inclusivity and diversity and respect are also heartening and so incredibly necessary. And finally: the fact that all four officers were fired and are being held accountable is the right moral and legal consequence for their behavior. Right, and moral, because all four men deserve their day in court, with counsel representing them, so we can get close to understanding the roots of this terrible tragedy.

George Floyd deserved a day in court, too.

insideARM is a media agency, focusing on the collection industry, and maybe you feel we shouldn’t have an opinion about something this disruptive, painful, and damaging. I wish we could change your mind. insideARM is not only a media agency, we’re human beings. We have all been deeply affected by this latest act of violence, and it felt very important to make our position clear not only to the industry, but to anyone who reads our words. 

We would like to leave you, finally, with this poem by lucille clifton. It is our sincere hope that out of this criminal and meaningless act of supreme violence — the murder of another human being by a person in authority — we can begin to fix what is broken and heal over. 

Let There Be New Flowering 

let there be new flowering
in the fields let the fields
turn mellow for the men
let the men keep tender
through the time let the time
be wrested from the war
let the war be won
let love be
at the end