Heightened regulatory scrutiny and an aggressive consumer plaintiffs' bar pose significant challenges to businesses in the consumer servicing and debt collection space. From ensuring that debt collection policies and programs comply with regulatory requirements to defeating individual and class action litigation, our team helps creditors, loan servicers, third-party debt collectors, debt buyers, and their service providers and partners navigate their most complex legal challenges, so that they can focus on the success of their business strategies.
Our Debt Servicing + Collection practice is an integral aspect of our broader Consumer Financial Services practice, which is nationally recognized for resolving litigation, providing regulatory guidance, and responding to investigations and enforcement actions involving all aspects of consumer finance.
Our team offers comprehensive, wide-ranging services to clients with servicing and collection-related needs across the consumer financial product and services landscape. Key areas of our practice include:
We counsel banks and nonbanks on designing, developing, and implementing debt collection policies, procedures, and strategies. Informed by our experience in handling litigation and enforcement actions, we develop policies and procedures that will withstand regulatory scrutiny and prevail in court.
We partner with selected high-quality collection law firms and agencies that focus on collections work, including managing outsourcing relationships with those firms for our clients. We develop and implement vendor oversight programs for proof of claim, bankruptcy, default lawsuits, writs of garnishment or sequestration, court orders for seizure and repossession, and recording judgment liens.
We advise collections clients on how the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA); Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP); and state debt collection laws and licensing regulations apply to their businesses. As regulations (and enforcement agency priorities) change, we proactively advise clients on the scope of regulatory authority, emerging trends, and risk areas relevant to their businesses.
We have many ways of keeping clients informed of regulatory developments, including customized web portals, our Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor blog, as well as weekly newsletters, podcasts, and other thought leadership. We conduct 50-state surveys on state laws regarding debt collection requirements, repossession, right to cure, garnishment, consumer communication restrictions, and licensing requirements.
We help develop consumer and customer communications strategies, draft templates, and review default letters, notices, and contract terms to ensure they adhere to relevant state and federal laws concerning loan agreements and debt collection. We also develop 50-state resources for collection clients to use in collection letters, texts, emails, voice messages, and scripts.
Decades of experience informs our advice about appropriate and efficient debt collection strategies. We are well-versed in compliance issues related to the FDCPA, Regulation F, Telephone Communications Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA). We use this knowledge to assist clients to review, modify, and update their internal collection operations to ensure ongoing compliance and mitigate potential risk.
Our multidisciplinary team has extensive experience interacting with key regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, state licensing authorities, and state attorneys general. We prepare clients for exams, license reviews, hearings, and investigations, and vigorously represent their interests before federal, state, and other industry regulatory bodies.
Our litigators have significant experience representing clients in litigation related to debt collection, including defending against individual and class action lawsuits alleging violations of the FDCPA, TCPA, and other consumer protection laws. Our work on compliance, counseling, and program development ensures a deep familiarity with all aspects of debt collection compliance, and informs our approach to litigation.
Our firm's comprehensive legal tracking service is designed to help financial institutions stay current with regulatory and legislative changes in three key areas:
Delivered directly to your inbox, these trackers include an overview of the most important changes and analyses on the potential impact to your business. A subscription to one or more trackers includes a monthly one-hour call with our attorneys, who will provide additional insights and be available to answer your questions.
Please click here to learn more about and subscribe to this service.
Podcasts
02.13.24
Year in Review and a Look Ahead: Navigating the Debt Collection Landscape
Firm News
02.01.24
Troutman Pepper Releases 2023 Consumer Financial Services Year in Review & 2024 Look Ahead
Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor
09.25.23
New Jersey Federal Court Holds Bank Levy Provides Basis for Standing in FDCPA Case
Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor
09.18.23
California Court of Appeals Finds Solar Energy Agreement Provides Basis for Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Claim by Non-Party to Agreement
Articles + Publications
09.12.22
Consumer Debt Collection: A Year in Review and What to Expect Next
Articles + Publications
03.22.22
Credit Bureaus Dramatically Reduce Medical Debt Credit Reporting