BusinessWeek: January 11, 1993

Get Four
Free Issues

Subscribe to BW
Customer Service

 Readers Report

NOT ALL BILL COLLECTORS ARE BULLIES

Your article, "Beware, bully-boy bill collectors" (Finance, Nov. 16) did not mention that consumer complaints about debt collectors made to the FTC have decreased from more than 4,000 per year in the late 1970s, when the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was enacted, to around 2,000 in 1992. When compared with the increase in the number of consumer-credit transactions and the number of accounts placed for collection, complaints have decreased by more than 50%. The member businesses of the American Collectors Assn. were called upon by creditors to contact more than 12 million American consumers in 1992. Although 2,000 complaints are very few given the millions of contacts made, the association and its members are striving to reduce complaints.

The association supported the passage of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which protects consumers, and worked to see that attorneys engaged primarily in debt collection were also covered by the act. In addition, the ACA gives more than 200 seminars each year to educate collectors about professional conduct and compliance with the law.

William L. Ryden

Administrative Vice-President

American Collectors Assn.

Minneapolis
  MARKET INFO
DJIA 0 0.00
S&P 500 0 0.00
Nasdaq 0 0.00

Portfolio Service Update

Stock Lookup

Enter name or ticker



 




Copyright 2000-2012 Bloomberg L.P.
Terms of Use | Privacy Notice