In April of 2021, the CFPB released an update Debt Collection Small Entity Compliance Guide, which focuses on the Debt Collection Rule and includes a detailed summary of the Debt Collection Rule’s substantive prohibitions and requirements. In the April 2021 version, the Guide was updated as follows:
Revised introduction and overview to include discussion of December 2020 Final Rule (Sections 1.1 and 2);
Created a new section to discuss the prohibition against legal action and threats of legal action to collect of time-barred debt (Section 10.5);
Created a new section to discuss the prohibition on passive collection (Section 10.6);
Revised the discussion of validation information to incorporate requirements and provide guidance on providing validation information (Section 12);
Updated the discussion of the prohibition against overshadowing consumer rights to incorporate reference to the safe harbor (Section 12.4);
Updated the discussion of requests for original-creditor information to include reference to the requirements applicable when the current creditor and the original creditor are the same (Section 12.5); and
Added an annotated version of the model validation notice in Appendix B of the December 2020 Rule (Appendix A).
In addition to these changes, there were also miscellaneous administrative changes throughout the Guide.
The full revised Guide can be found here.
