SGA sends letters in New York and Illinois
This week, AFSA’s State Government Affairs (SGA) team sent a letter commenting on a recent rulemaking by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) on third-party debt collection rules. The DFS’ new rules would make significant changes to existing rules, including debt validation requirements and new restrictions on communicating with consumers. In the letter, AFSA’s letter raised concerns related to amended definitions that may include certain creditors that are currently exempt from the rules in the definition of “debt collector”. In addition, AFSA expressed concern over calling and electronic communications restrictions and debt validation requirements that would conflict with federal requirements. AFSA also requested a delayed effective date.
AFSA’s SGA team also sent a letter to the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules regarding amended rules issued by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR). The proposed rules would implement the new “Predatory Loan Prevention Act”, which was passed by the legislature in 2021. The rules were the DFPR’s second revision of initial rules published in May 2021, which AFSA also commented on. The amended rules included some of AFSA’s suggestions in the previous letter but still contained some concerning provisions. In the letter, AFSA requested that the rules clearly distinguish between title loans and traditional consumer installment loans secured by a motor vehicle. AFSA also requested clarity on the database reporting requirements and raised concerns with the disclosures for sales finance companies. AFSA further requested a delayed effective date to give companies time to allow financial institutions to implement changes to their operation and compliance systems.
These letters, as well as other SGA advocacy actions, can be found on the State Direct Advocacy section of the AFSA website.
February 17th, 2022 by Dan Bucherer
