Old Debt Collector Law Will Apply To Creditors Under The New CFPB

A bulletin from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has made clear that it intends to apply the strictures of the decades-old Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) to a group that the FDCPA does not cover: Companies that extend credit to their customers. The Dodd-Frank provision that created the CFPB does not create a private right of action, but the writer maintains that it’s “only a matter of time before the plaintiffs’ bar files lawsuits alleging that the conduct discussed by the bulletin violates state consumer-protection laws that do authorize private suits.”