Today the Federal Register published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding updates to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The notice in the Federal Register triggers the end date of the comment period. Businesses, consumers, and other interested parties now have until August 19, 2019 to submit comments on the proposed debt collection rule for the CFPB’s consideration.

Troutman Sanders previously released a detailed analysis of 15 key provisions in the proposed rule.

Comments may be submitted through any of the following methods:

  • Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the instructions for submitting comments.
  • Email: Send to 2019-NPRM-DebtCollection@cfpb.gov. Include Docket No. CFPB-2019-0022 or RIN 3170-AA41 in the subject line of the email.
  • Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Send to Comment Intake – Debt Collection, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, 1700 G Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20552.

All comments must include the agency name (CFPB) and the docket number for the rulemaking (Docket No. CFPB-2019-0022) or the Regulatory Information Number (“RIN”) for the rulemaking (3170-AA41). Note that all comments become part of the public record and are subject to public disclosure, so confidential or sensitive information should not be included.

The CFPB will then review all comments received and either issue another proposed rule, if there are substantial changes they wish to make, or issue a final rule.

The proposed effective date of the rule would be one year from the publication of the final rule, as opposed to the publication of the proposed rule. This means that a new rule might take effect, at the earliest, at the end of 2020.

We will continue to monitor the progress of the proposed rule through the rulemaking process.