FTC Director Discusses Federal Regulatory Limitations of FDCPA

Late last month, Reilly Dolan – the Federal Trade Commission’s Assistant Director, Division of Financial Practices – spoke to a group of over 140 senior leaders of large market participants in the debt collection industry at a regulatory Summit hosted by insideARM.com in Washington, D.C.

Dolan largely discussed the monumental changes the FTC has seen over the past two years as it cedes regulatory and enforcement authority over the debt collection industry to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Chiefly, the FTC will no longer be the primary enforcer of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

But the FTC will still have a hand in FDCPA enforcement and will be working with the CFPB on that mission. Dolan discussed several recent actions the agency has taken under the FDCPA.

The FTC’s Reilly Dolan addresses insideARM.com’s ARM Regulatory Summit in DC.

He also discussed the limitations placed on his agency by the language of the statute. The FTC never had rulemaking authority under the FDCPA, a limitation that will not be endured by the CFPB.

While sympathizing with the ARM industry’s struggles with private actions under the FDCPA, Dolan noted that collection agencies often came to the FTC with unrealistic requests, like intervening in lawsuits brought by consumers.

Listen to an excerpt of Dolan’s remarks below:

FTC Remarks at ARM Regulatory Summit

(if you can’t see the player, listen to the clip at http://www.insidearm.com/wp-content/uploads/rilley-dolan-of-ftc-on-fdcpa-arm-regulatory-summit-27-feb-2013.mp3)