The Consumer Relations Consortium Welcomes New Members

The Consumer Relations Consortium (CRC) today announced the addition of three new member companies: Northland Group, ARS National, and The CBE Group.

The CRC is a membership group for larger market participants in the debt collection industry (defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as those firms with $10M or more in annual revenue from collection activity). The fundamental mission of the CRC is to approach industry and regulatory change by building relationships and engaging in meaningful dialogue with consumer advocacy groups and regulators.

Over the past 12+ months, the CRC has done just that. Quietly, in the background, members have been meeting repeatedly with a half dozen consumer groups and discussing the details of the thorniest issues raised in the CFPB’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – and offering regulators the benefit of hearing the back and forth dialogue in real time.

Founding member Marcelo Aita, President & CEO of NCB Management Group, offered “From the beginning, we expressed our willingness to listen to the consumer groups’ concerns, and to explore a range of reasonable solutions. This openness has led them to learn in much greater detail the way legitimate collection agencies operate and the challenges we face in serving consumers in today’s environment.”

Lance Black, President of new member Northland Group, commented “We’ve been watching the CRC’s development over the past year and have been impressed with their quiet yet effective approach. We look forward to actively participating in the process and contributing to the value a group like this can provide to the industry.”