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Collection Agencies and Collection Attorneys will be harder to sue if Senate Bill 1405 section 207 passes. S 1405 is a bipartisan bill titled, "Financial Regulatory Relief and Economic Efficiency Act of 1997" that was introduced to the Senate by Senator Shelby (from Alabama) on 11/07/1997 (the Shelby - Mack Bill). It went for mark up July 29th 1998 and was returned for rewrite on July 31st 1998. The proposals to exempt Student Loans, Non-judicial Foreclosures and Check writing from the current law were dropped. They did leave a proposal that is similar to two House bills still ongoing in the House, House Bill 837 (dead in the water bill) and House Bill 1059 (the Credit Cost Reduction Act) that proposed the same thing and has had no action sense March 1997 and only 43 CO-sponsors out of 435 House Representatives. The thing I am concerned with is the current proposed amendments in S 1405 sec 207, if passed, they will still allow collection activities and communications to commence and continue during the initial 30-day Debt "Validation Period. It is not allowed now and it has not been allowed in the past and it is not right to take away consumers rights and protection. This is a period of time that has been interpreted as a "Grace Period" of 30 days for the consumer to get consumer credit counseling help, legal advise and/or just time enough to save the money up to pay the payment. Demanding payment in the initial 30 day contact period has not been allowed in current court interpretations and case examples that set precedence The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a law that protects consumers from the bill collectors who use high pressure tactics, harassment, abuse, false or misleading representations and the use of unfair practices, threats and other illegal deceptive debt collection practices. It would be harder to sue collection agencies and collection lawyers under the new proposal for violations of the 30-day "Validation Period" guidelines unless the debtor disputes the debt. That means the debtor will have to prove he disputed the call and that's darn near impossible. A very important consideration is that the account will be able to be listed on the Credit Bureau on day one and the consumer will have a heck of a time clearing that off because even if it is paid it will in many cases be listed as a paid collection account. You see, currently a collection agency can get in hot water for listing an account in the initial 30 days because of the link between the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act guidelines. The reason ACPAC (an effort of the American Collectors Association) who's goal has been in all three bills proposed
to abolish the 30 grace period. I feel it is because they allied with the Credit Bureaus and this will greatly
increase the amount of data that can be obtained on consumers by the Credit Bureaus. Just think of it, one day
late and you are branded. It is because we obey the law and follow the current guidelines. The law was made to stop the high increases of bankruptcy, divorce and the horrible abuses that illegal debt collectors were using. We all can see by the FEC (Federal Election committee) the big dollar donations that were made and by who for what and what is done in the dark will come out in the light sometime or another. Keep writing, calling and faxing the Senators, Al Gore (President of the Senate) Majority Whip Lott and every one of the 435 House Reps and 100 Senators. Let this pass and you can forget about privacy. Look at it now. You've got Bill collectors with no background searches (some felons) using alias's (phony names) that have access to credit bureau reports and when the reports are run the only thing they have to locate the person who obtained the report is a company name. Good luck finding out who committed the fraud. Here is the answer.
Consumers who have been victims of fraud, violated and abused or had their privacy invaded must be allowed to pin point the perpetrator. The state ID number would be registered on the credit bureau to identify that collector or perpetrator. The funding can be obtained from a collector registration fee. The state or federal agencies could also distribute educational materials through these licensing bureaus. James Hunt |
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