CFPB extends FDCPA comment period

Sentiment among consumer advocacy groups is split on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s announcement of the 30-day extension on the comment period for its proposed debt collection rule.

Last month a group of consumer advocacy groups and industry trade groups sent separate letters to the CFPB requesting a 60- to 90-day extension on the comment period related to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Today, the CFPB announced it would extend the comment period 30 days, to Sept. 18.

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“We’re disappointed that the bureau has not honored our request for the full extension,” Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advisor at Public Citizen, told Auto Finance News. “We’re very cynical about the trajectory of what [Director] Kathy Kraninger wants to do,” he said, adding that the extension is “a small bone to us, but certainly not the kind of meal that investors or consumers deserve.”

The Consumer Federation of America, another group involved in the extension request, is more optimistic. “Obviously we wanted more time, but [we’re] happy with the extension that we did get,” said Leandra English, director of financial services advocacy. “Every day matters and gives people more opportunity to get the information they need and put together a comment,” she said.

Read more: Comments pour in on CFPB’s debt collection proposal

Linda Jun, senior policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, was “grateful” for the extension. “We’d be lying if we wouldn’t have preferred a longer [extension], but it’s still an important amount of time for us to do more outreach,” she said. The extension into the fall “is really important,” because it gives people time to respond after they return from summer vacations, she added.