MARIETTA, Ga. —  Chris Zhao, PhD in Mathematics from Princeton University joined Sequium as Vice President of Business Intelligence & Chief Data Officer. Chris brings over 30 years of hands-on IT and leadership experiences in Software engineering, Data Mining, Business Intelligence, and Data Science. Prior to joining Sequium, he had been a Senior Consultant for UPS, Credit Suisse, Thomson Reuters, IPSOS, and Bain Capital, covering multiple business domains and industries. In consumer behavior analytics, Chris developed active index algorithms leveraging integrated consumer and behavioral data, and created tremendous values for his business clients. Chris was also adjunct professor at Rider University and Peking University. He is a graduate of Princeton University with Ph.D. in Mathematics.

“We are thrilled to have Chris as a member of the Sequium Family”, says Greg Schubert, President and CEO at Sequium. “Chris will spearhead our already complex and sophisticated business intelligence units focusing on Business Optimization, Advanced Machine Learning and Segmentation models. The future of this industry is converting data to actionable information to improve performance, efficiencies, and decisions matrices. The addition of Dr. Zhao will take us to a whole new level and we are excited beyond words as to the possibilities.”

About Sequium Asset Solutions, LLC

Headquartered in Marietta GA, Sequium Asset Solutions is the leader in the accounts receivable management industry leveraging sophisticated Business Intelligence, Machine learning, Digital Communications and Human Capital to produce groundbreaking results for its customers. The company is a recognized performance leader within the industry. For more information, please contact Peter Hendricks, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, at 678-228-0003 or email him at peter@sequium.com.

California’s Office of the Attorney General (AG) held yet another public forum to discuss the new Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in San Diego on Monday. Below are my observations on several main topics discussed during the forum.

Editor’s Note: This was the second of the six scheduled public forums; a summary of the first forum can be found here.

Definitions and Standards

The key issues at yesterday’s forum centered around definitions in the statute and what information might be scoped within the law’s definitions. Cyber security experts, who made up the majority of the audience, strongly recommended deferring to industry definitions published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Special Publication 800-122. One of the cyber security consultants brought up that if CCPA’s definitions and standards are vague and inconsistent with NIST standards, an issue arises with general liability insurance carriers about what would and would not be insurable risks. This would create a heyday for litigators and uncertainty about liability.

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Consumer groups like Consumer Watchdog stated that the ARM industry’s view of data sharing, collection and sale today is at best “quaint” and that the broadest possible interpretation is advisable. Consumer groups also want more opportunities for private causes of action to protect consumers in instances where businesses provide disclosures that simply aren’t packaged in a way that consumers’ permissions would truly be considered “knowing.”

Submitting Comments

It is essential to prepare and submit any comments before the end of February. The AG’s office is having court reporters capture the testimony provided at the hearing and will then consider that in addition to the submitted comments. Written comments should be sent to PrivacyRegulations@doj.ca.gov or mailed to:

CA-DOJ
ATTN: Privacy Regulations Coordinator
300 Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

At this time, the AG’s office will neither comment nor respond to input from the public. After February, the AG’s office will craft a notice of proposed rulemaking – expected by or in September and thereafter will hold televised public hearings. Following this, a final notice of rulemaking would occur. There was no discussion of phasing in enforcement dates, go live dates, or whether model or safe harbor disclosures would be offered.

Preemption

The ARM industry has an opportunity to make a case for showing that compliance with particular laws such as FCRA, GLBA and HIPAA — specifically cited in CCPA — already define guardrails for the collection and use of consumers’ data, possibly justifying an exemption for the industry under CCPA. This seems to be a critical opportunity for industry.

Working with the AG’s Office

The two deputy AGs spearheading the work on CCPA indicated they welcome input from industry groups that have interacted with consumer groups, particularly if it indicates some understanding of key areas of agreement and key areas of difference.

Forum’s Participants

Roughly 100 people were present, the majority of which were cyber security professionals. No other ARM industry professional was present.

Potential Legislation in Other States

It is clear that there is considerable activity in various state legislatures about similar privacy legislation for the coming year in response to the Cambridge Analytica situation. Other key states to watch include (but are not limited to): Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Florida, and Nevada.

Stay tuned — the next open forum is on Thursday, January 24, at the Cesar Chavez Community Center in Riverside, Calif.

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — F.H. Cann & Associates, Inc., an industry leader in delivery of best-in-class recovery solutions, is pleased to announce the opening of its newest operations office in Sharonville, Ohio.  The expansion, a result of continued company growth, will be the first outside of its Massachusetts headquarters and will be open later this month. The new location will offer state of the art technology including telephony and training facilities.  Expansion into Sharonville, Ohio also represents the addition of over 100 new positions for the organization.

“Words cannot express our level of excitement over our continued growth and to see the expansion of the organization into a new market,” stated Frank H. Cann, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer.  “Sharonville provides FHC with access to a favorable workforce and we are looking forward to becoming one of Sharonville’s newest corporate citizens.”

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About F.H. Cann & Associates

Established in 1999, FHC is a certified woman-owned full-service accounts receivable management company, specializing in higher education collections, serving colleges, universities, guarantors, and the U.S. Department of Education.

BOISE, Idaho — Revenly, the leading multi-channel CollecTech platform, today announced the expansion of operations in Boise, Idaho as the company continues its rapid growth in the Account Receivable Management (ARM) industry.

Previously marketed under Swipebox as a merchant service provider, Revenly released a mobile-first, customer-centric SaaS platform in 2018 that enables debtors to make payments from any device at any time.

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“People want an easy way to pay their bills without complex, frustrating, human interaction. Our system gives agencies an easy-to-use, creditor-approved solution that has the power to automate over 50% of their paying accounts every month,” said CEO Joshua Allen at Revenly. “It’s a one-stop, consumer-powered solution that puts the payor on track to pay their debt faster and easier than any other system in the ARM industry.”

The platform has already shown potential to revolutionize the industry with adoption, conversion and retention rates that have been previously unseen in the ARM industry.

“With Revenly, debtors considered ‘unreachable’ are not only paying their debts down, but they are coming back week after week on their own and self-managing every aspect of their account within the rules the agency sets up for them,” said Allen.

Revenly’s move to Boise, Idaho will allow the company to work closer with its development and design team, along with tech veteran Jonathan Cardella, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer. Jonathan, who began working with Revenly in 2017, will lead the strategic direction and partnership development, go-to-market, and product design and development.

To learn more about the Revenly SaaS platform please contact GetRevenly@revenly.io, visit  www.revenly.io or call (208) 639-9980 to request a demo.

About Revenly

Revenly is an easy-to-use, creditor-approved SaaS solution, enabling people to effortlessly make debt payments from any device, anytime, anywhere. With a payor adoption rate of over 90%, Revenly is a revolutionary system, unmatched in the account receivable management industry.

Looks like the question of whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) structure is constitutional will be fought, if at all, on another day. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari — in other words, a request for the Supreme Court to hear the case — in State National Bank of Big Spring, et al. v. Steven Mnuchin, et al.

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As a brief refresher, the case presented two main constitutional questions regarding the structure of the CFPB:

1. Whether an independent agency having a single director that is only removable by the President for cause and exempted from Congress’ power of the purse is constitutional; and
2. Whether Congress was permitted “to create perpetual, on-demand funding streams for executive agencies that are unreviewably drawn from the coffers of other independent agencies.”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the newest member of the Supreme Court bench, did not participate in the vote. This is likely because he wrote the opinion for this case as well the dissenting opinion in the PHH v. CFPB case while he was still on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals bench prior to his Supreme Court appointment.

Four justices need to agree in order to hear a case, so the State National Bank case fell short of this.

insideARM Perspective

John Rossman, shareholder at Moss & Barnett and chair of the firm’s creditor’s remedies and bankruptcy practice group, shared the following insight with insideARM:

There are a variety of factors that weigh into the decision of the U.S Supreme Court granting or denying a petition for certiorari. In the State National Bank case, there were valid questions about whether Justice Kavanaugh would recuse himself due to his participation in the decision from the D.C. Circuit on this case where he authored the opinion. While the landscape at the CFPB has changed dramatically over the past few years – including the previous director, who was a Presidential recess appointment, stepping down and the new director obtaining Congressional approval – concerns about the constitutionality of this single director federal agency, and its funding mechanism, remain and need to be resolved. I expect a future challenge to the constitutionality of the CFPB may fare differently in a petition for cert to the U.S. Supreme Court.   

This follow-on request for the Supreme Court to hear the issue again may not be that far off. There is another case — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. RD Legal Funding LLC, et al. — percolating its way through the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Depending on how far the parties in that case choose to go, the Supreme Court might see yet another petition for writ of certiorari on this very issue at at its front steps soon.

The Sixth Circuit released a decision in Scott v. Trott Law, P.C., No. 18-1051 (6th Cir. Jan. 11, 2019) where the court clarified what it means for a debt collector to “cease collection activity” after receiving a dispute from a consumer. According to the court, it is not enough that the debt collector itself stop whatever it is doing to collect a debt. Ceasing collection activity also requires the debt collector to put a stop to any activities performed by third parties that the debt collector set in motion prior to receiving the dispute.

Editor’s Note: The insideARM Perspective below discusses how this case relates to Obduskey v. Wells Fargo, which is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Factual and Procedural Background

Petitioner-plaintiff Scott had a mortgage with Bank of America, which placed the account with Trott Law, P.C. (Trott) to proceed with foreclosure proceedings against the property due to Scott’s non-payment.

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On September 20, Trott sent a letter to Scott that included the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) notice of validation rights as required by section 1692g. On October 5, after sending the letter, Trott arranged a sheriff’s sale of the property for November 8, published notice of the foreclosure in the a local newspaper, and mailed a copy of the Notice of Mortgage Foreclosure Sale to Scott.

After all of this was put into motion, Trott received a dispute letter from Scott on October 11. Trott itself ceased collection activity and began working with Bank of America to verify the debt. However, it did not reach out to the sheriff to stop the foreclosure sale.

Plaintiff petitioned the court for an injunction — or stop — to the foreclosure sale, which was successful. Scott then filed a FDCPA lawsuit against Trott alleging that, among other things, Trott did not cease collection activity after receiving the notice of dispute.

District and Appellate Court Decisions

The district court sided with Trott and granted summary judgment, finding that because the firm stopped all of its activity on the debt, it ceased collection activity. Scott appealed this decision.

The Sixth Circuit took issue with and reversed the district court’s opinion. The district court’s interpretation, according to the Sixth Circuit, “would render the [consumer’s dispute] a nullity.” While it may be true that Trott stopped whatever it was doing to collect the debt, “Trott fails to mention that there was nothing else for it to do.” Essentially, due to the processes Trott previously set in motion, the foreclosure sale could go forward without Trott having to lift a finger.

The Sixth Circuit then went on to conduct a statutory interpretation of 1692g. Black’s Law Dictionary defines “cease” as “to stop,” “to come to an end,” and “to suspend or foreit.” Since 1692g applies this verb to the debt collector, the court reasoned that:

[T]he statute imposes on the debt collector to stop the “collection of the debt.” This is more obviously true when the debt collector has been the one to initiate the “collection of the debt.”

The court then went into whether non-foreclosure proceedings constitute the collection of a debt, an issue which is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Currently, the Sixth Circuit considers foreclosure and non-foreclosure proceedings as collection of debt and, based on this framework (without mentioning Obduskey), the court found that Trott should have put a stop to the foreclosure sale until it sent verification of debt to Scott.

insideARM Perspective

Two things come to mind when reading this decision.

First, this entire decision may become moot pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obduskey v. Wells Fargo. Obuskey will decide whether non-judicial foreclosure proceedings constitute the debt collection as defined by the FDCPA and, therefore, whether they are governed its provisions. During oral arguments, the Supreme Court bench seemed divided on the issue in unexpected ways so it’s difficult to tell which side the decision will come down on.

Second, while this decision focuses on foreclosures, it may have broader impacts on debt collection as a whole. What exactly qualifies as debt collection activity? (Obduskey will hopefully clarify at least some of this.) Does this mean that a dispute triggers the responsibility to instruct any third party vendor that may touch the account to stop? What about when the dispute is received after a collection suit is filed — does the debt collector need to stop the lawsuit? The Eastern District of Virginia says no to the latter in Post v. Hodges Law Office, PLLC, so this might cause yet another jurisdictional split in FDCPA cases, which is the last thing the industry needs.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — LiveVox Inc., a leading provider of cloud contact center solutions, announced that LiveVox General Manager of Digital Solutions, Boris Grinshpun, and Subway Project Manager, Susanne Sasso, will host an interactive discussion group on the topic of omnichannel engagement at the upcoming CCW Winter Conference. The session will discuss keys to creating a clear path for contact centers to evolve from voice-only contact strategies to ROI-driven digital engagement.

On the event, Boris Grinshpun, General Manager of Digital Solutions, LiveVox states, “For over 20+ years, the contact center industry has been attempting to achieve ‘omnichannel engagement’. The idea of a singular experience has been an easy one to understand, but an incredibly difficult one to obtain. As technology, such as chatbots and AI, move even faster, it may appear that establishing the personalization that customers are demanding may be more difficult than ever. But that is not the case. Recent developments in cloud have made the path to omnichannel much easier.  I am excited to join Susanne to share more on this and other best practices on how to bring back the human element of engagement.”

To learn more about LiveVox, please visit our website.

About the event:

• EVENT: CCW Winter 2019 Conference
• INTERACTIVE DISCUSSON GROUP: Omnichannel: Delivering World-Class Channels through Connected Channels
• DATE: January 17th, 2019
• LOCATION: Nashville, TN

For a preview of topic discussions, download this Tip Sheet on Digital Transformation by clicking here.

 About LiveVox, Inc.

LiveVox is a leading provider of enterprise cloud contact center solutions, managing more than 12+ billion interactions a year across a multichannel environment. With over 15 years of pure cloud expertise, we empower contact center leaders to drive effective engagement strategies on the consumer’s channel of choice. Our leading-edge risk mitigation and security capabilities help clients quickly adapt to a changing business environment. With new features released quarterly, LiveVox remains at the forefront of cloud contact center innovation. Supported by over 450 employees and rapidly growing, we are headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Atlanta, Bangalore, and Colombia. To learn more, visit LiveVox.com or email us at Info@LiveVox.com.

CHANDER, Ariz. — LucentPay, the leader in fee-enabled processing and a full-service payment vendor, has announced the appointment of Michael McDonnell as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. In his new role, Michael will be responsible for all direct and channel sales efforts, with a focus on expanding adoption of LucentPay’s signature product, the No-Cost-to-Biller™ solution. The No-Cost-to-Biller™ processing solution offers unique advantages to service providers, eliminating significant costs through integrated services for all payment channels including phone (TEL), WEB, IVR and text payments.

Mr. McDonnell brings over 20 years of accounts receivable experience to his new role. Previously, he served more than ten years with RevSpring in various roles, most recently as Vice President of Sales & Marketing.

“Michael brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our executive leadership team and we are looking forward to him driving our marketing and sales efforts to new heights,” said Rob Kennedy, Co-Founder and CEO of LucentPay. “McDonnell’s background and experience will be a valuable asset to the leadership team as our company seeks to accelerate its growth in 2019. He has a deep knowledge of our market, products, customers and channel partners, and the ability to transform that knowledge into actionable results. We’re thrilled to welcome Michael to the team.”

“It is very exciting to be continuing my career in the ARM Industry and working with the team at LucentPay and help them continue their success as one of the Industry’s leading FinTech payment processing firms,” said Michael McDonnell.  “I feel very fortunate to work with the great team of professionals at LucentPay. We are well positioned to help our business partners embrace the benefits of LucentPay’s solutions and services to gain efficiencies and improve their business processes.”

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About LucentPay

LucentPay is a full-service payment processor revolutionizing merchant services by providing best-in-breed payment solutions. The leaders in integrated fee-enabled processing and creators of the No-Cost-to-Biller™ solution which focuses on eliminating processing costs in a compliant manner. We’re excited to simplify payments through our full suite of solutions, PCI Level 1 technology, next day funding, integrations, education and community services. LucentPay also offers competitive pricing for standard payment processing through a number of banking relationships and comprehensive payment acceptance (Visa, MC, Discover, AMEX, HSA/ Flex Cards, Etc.).

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — PaymentVision®, a leading provider of electronic payment gateway technology and solutions, recently added an improved online debt negotiation and resolution platform to its suite of services. The new Resolve my Bill(SM) tool exposes a web site to facilitate debtors negotiating financial obligations to receivables firms such as collection agencies and law firms, on mutually agreeable terms, based on treatment parameters specified by the agency.

Resolve My Bill(SM) works by opening and moderating an automated dialogue between debtors and creditors over a secure web session.  Debtors can explore agency-offered payment options and negotiate payment terms and timing details that have been pre-approved by the agency.   

According to PaymentVision®, initial tests of the Resolve My Bill(SM) platform generated an average 20% increase in resolution rates over 68%.

“Today’s millennial debtors are more averse to talking on the phone, and our newly launched system lets an agency scale without adding headcount.” said, Robert Pollin, CEO of PaymentVision®.  The debtor-facing Resolve My Bill web site is customized for each agency and is open 24 hours. And since collectors don’t interact with debtors, compliance concerns are greatly reduced as the risk of collectors not following the approved script no longer applies.  

“It’s a win-win solution,” continued Pollin.  “Resolve My Bill(SM) makes the collection process more convenient and less stressful for debtors, and also more successful for agencies.”

Resolve my Bill(SM) is a TCPA and FDCPA compliant solution. For more information and pricing, contact PaymentVision.

About PaymentVision®

PaymentVision is a biller-direct, PCI-compliant, electronic payment gateway provider. PaymentVision offers clients the unified ability to accept ACH, check, and credit or debit card payments via phone or web-based mediums. PaymentVision solutions handle billions of dollars for thousands of financial institutions large and small nationwide, including credit unions, banks, consumer finance, and collection agencies.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — BillingTree®, the payment problem solvers™, announced today the appointment of Christine “Chris” Lee as Chief Executive Officer.  Former CEO Edgars Sturans will remain as a BillingTree Board member. Ms. Lee’s hiring comes at an opportune time for the rapidly growing payment solution provider, supplying a wealth of payment industry and banking experience as the company expands deeper within new verticals. Her expertise will compliment the company’s success in ARM, Auto Finance, Banking, Credit Unions and Healthcare.

Ms. Lee is a highly accomplished industry veteran having successfully led teams at Moneris, Vantiv, NPC, Bank of America and is currently the President Elect for the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). She’s also served as the Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions (WNET) President, and 11-year Board Member participant.

BillingTree, headquartered in Phoenix, AZ with offices in Toledo, OH is a leading supplier of financial technology and payment solutions, processing over $4 Billion annually for clients from multiple industries.  The company was most recently recognized as one of the Top Revenue Cycle Management Solutions for 2018.

“I am pleased Christine accepted the CEO position here at BillingTree. Her outstanding resume and experience are the perfect fit to build on our 15-year sustained track record of success, innovation and client service excellence,” said Edgars Sturans, BillingTree Board Member and outgoing CEO.

“I’m thrilled to join BillingTree, a proven payments company with innovative technology solutions including Payrazr® and CareView™ which position us for rapid growth within our current and future target verticals,” said Chris Lee, BillingTree’s incoming CEO. “The payments industry is rapidly changing, and my career history will serve us well as we continue to scale BillingTree’s revenue growth and software solutions to clients.”

About BillingTree

BillingTree® is the leading provider of integrated payments solutions to the Healthcare, ARM, Property Management, B2B, and Financial Services industry verticals. Through its technology-enabled suite of products and services, BillingTree enables organizations to increase efficiency and decrease the costs of payment processing while adhering to compliance regulations. Leveraging more than a decade of market experience, BillingTree is dedicated to growing payments with technology through an integrated omni-channel offering, suite of proprietary products and value-added services, and a company-wide focus on delivering extraordinary customer service.