NACM Oregon
Business Credit Journal January/February 2013
The CFPB’s Rules Could Affect You Brenda Terreault, JD, CBA
In This Issue CFPB Rules............................. 1 Member Profile....................... 2 Chair’s Message...................... 3 President’s Message................ 3
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p to now, only creditors doing business with consumers have been concerned with the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB). On January 1, 2013, the CFPB’s “Larger Participant Rule” will go into effect. At first glance, this Rule applies only to collection agencies, debt buyers, and collection law firms that earn $10 million or more in revenue from consumer debt.
International Corner................ 8
Because this is new regulation, there is nothing providing regulatory interpretation. All anyone can do is review the new Rule and anticipate its implications for trade creditors. There are some catch-all clauses in the regulations that should be considered critically. They may impact creditors, if not now, then potentially in the future, either through case law, amendments, or continued regulatory changes.
Upcoming Events.................... 10
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Collection Trends.................... 4 Scholarships........................... 6 New Designee’s...................... 7
BCLC Webinars....................... 12 Open House Pics..................... 14 Contacts................................. 16
One thing that may apply the Rule to first-party trade creditors is the Rule’s definition of “debt collector.” The definition in the new regulations tracks the definition for “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA applies the least-sophisticated-debtor test to determine whether a first-party creditor can be treated as a third-party participant. If the least-sophisticated-debtor could believe a first-party collector is a third-party collector, the first-party creditor could be declared a third-part collector for legal ...continue on page 15
Reasons to Use NACM’s National Trade Credit Report
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national service offered by a growing list of dozens of offices throughout the United States, the NACM National Trade Credit Report (NTCR) has quickly become a remarkably useful tool for companies curious about their potential customers’ creditworthiness. There are endless reasons to
use it, but here are some to get you started. Accuracy: The NTCR is offered by more than 40 offices around the country and provides users access to accounts receivable information submitted by more than 10,000 businesses and 1,000 industry trade credit
groups nationwide. This adds up to more than ten million current lines of trade data on the NTCR database. Having such a deep well of information to draw from means the NTCR provides a complete picture, and one that’s as accurate and timely as anything on the market today.
Relevance: All of this trade data is uploaded by those 10,000 businesses—big and small—on a daily basis. That means the information included in the NTCR is timely and ready to use right now. The data submitted is also especially applicable to the function of ...continue on page 9
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