Consumer Attorney Endorses CFPB Collection Oversight; Sun Rises

In an announcement sure to shock and amaze exactly no one, consumer attorney Sergei Lemberg gave two big thumbs up to the CFPB’s declared intent to supervise large debt collection agencies.

Lemberg, one of the most active attorney representatives for consumers suing under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), said that collectors should be getting what’s coming to them because they’re mean. [insert sad trumpet noise here]

“The economy tanked, housing prices plummeted, and unemployment skyrocketed. An increasing number of Americans simply are not able to pay their bills,” Lemberg says. “In response, debt collectors often curtail traditional collection methods and turn to a business model that abuses the taxpayer-funded court system to obtain judgments against unsuspecting consumers.”

While Lemberg doesn’t believe that the CFPB’s expanded oversight will solve debt collection abuse, he says the proposed rule is a step in the right direction. The next step would be filing more lawsuits from the offices of Lemberg & Associates, one can imagine.

Which brings up an interesting question in this whole CFPB/Brave New World thingy: if the CFPB is truly going to supervise (remember: supervise, not just regulate like the FTC) debt collection agencies, doesn’t it seem like lawsuits against ARM companies from consumers would decline?

Federal agents are going to be figuratively (we think) looking over the shoulders of collectors. So we should expect to see fewer violations and fewer lawsuits. What if a collection agency that is being supervised gets sued? Does that make the CFPB partially culpable? (probably not)

At any rate, this whole thing is going to shake out over the next year and I suspect the consumer bar is not going to be terribly pleased with where it lands: in a regulatory environment that might be more strict, but definitely more concrete, limiting the clever loopholes and ambiguities lawyers hold so dear.