October 7, 2021 Blog

As stated in previous blogs, the CFPB has issued new rules under the FDCPA called Regulation F which has given new requirements we must follow as of November 30,2021. One of the changes that will impact you the most is the listing of accounts. With the new rule from the CFPB, you are now required to itemize the account balance from a specific itemization date (see below). Any interest or fees that had accrued on the account or any payments that were received on the account prior to listing the account with Finance System of Green Bay Inc. would have to be itemized per the new rule.

As stated above, the itemization date is now something new we must contend with listing accounts. We have met with our compliance counsel and picked several itemization dates that we believe will be most readily available to our clients and would require the least amount of itemization. We understand this data may be limited in our client’s office, that is why we will be making several recommendations today. Once an itemization date is picked by your organization, it is imperative you continue to calculate the accounts in that fashion.

The five itemization dates the CFPB allows are as follows:

1. Date of service
2. Charge off date
3. Last statement date
4. Last payment date
5. Judgement date

The first option would be the lengthiest of all the itemizations. This option is also the most readily available to our clients and maybe the only date they will be able to use to calculate the new totals. This option would require all interest, fees, and payments to be totaled from the date of service to the placement of the account with FSGB.

The second option is the charge off date. Per guidance from the CFPB, this date cannot be the date you place an account with FSGB. This is a date your company takes the asset (account) and moves it to a liability within your accounting system. This option would require all interest, fees, and payments to be totaled and itemized from the charge off date to the placement of the account with FSGB. Most creditors software is not setup in this fashion to interface with the accounting software so the ability to give the exact date would be difficult. Our compliance attorney feels this date would be very ambiguous with a lot of room for inconsistency and errors.

The third option is the last statement date. This is the best option to utilize since it would have the least amount of information for you to itemize. The big drawback in this option is the ability of your software to produce that date of itemization and the amount of the debt on that date. This option would require all Interest, fees, and payments to be totaled and itemized from the last statement date.

The fourth option would be the last payment date. Due to all accounts not receiving payments, this option would not be applicable to all accounts. For this reason, this date would not be a good choice. This option would require all interest, fees, and payments to be totaled and itemized from the last payment date. If you do have payments on all your accounts sent here for collection this maybe an option. Most clients we consulted with also confirmed not all accounts receive payments.

The fifth option is the judgement date. This would apply to accounts with small claims judgments taken by our creditors and sent to FSGB for collections. This itemization date would only apply to judgement accounts so this wouldn’t be another option except for judgment holder clients. This option would require all interest, fees, and payments to be totaled and itemized from the judgement date to placing it with FSGB. This date is one we recommend for all judgment accounts taken by our creditors.

Please review the capabilities of your software to best decide which date you will use to generate the balances that will be required. Remember, you want to only utilize one itemization date for each client, to eliminate confusion with our office and the referral.

Now if you’re confused already, don’t worry. We understand this is new for everyone and we want everyone to be informed as best they can. Currently, we are reviewing our Excel downloads from of our clients to ascertain if this information is already being transmitted. If not, our office will be in touch to discuss the different fields that will be needed. We will be scheduling webinars in the next few weeks to discuss the above. We will also outline the new Client Connect new business format change and any questions you may have regarding this change.

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