On Friday, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and the ACLU Racial Justice Program filed joint comments in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). The ANPR sought feedback from various organizations on problematic debt collection practices.
In these comments, the Brennan Center and ACLU direct the CFPB to consider evidence that private companies abuse bad-check enforcement programs, and that debt collectors are misusing civil contempt procedures in state and local courts to recover consumer debts. The comments also ask the Bureau to investigate evidence that abusive debt collection practices disproportionately impact communities of color.
“We are pleased that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be issuing regulations addressing predatory debt collection practices,” says Jessica Eaglin, Counsel at the Brennan Center. “We call on the Bureau to consider further regulating debt collection practices that intersect with our civil and criminal justice systems in ways that unjustly harm consumers.”