Federal Regulators Jointly Release New FDCPA Examination Procedures

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation F, were revised by the Task Force on Consumer Compliance of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) on December 15, 2022. The revised interagency procedures will apply to examinations carried out by the FFIEC’s member regulators of their respective regulated institutions. The National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) are all members of FFIEC.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act section of the Comptroller’s Handbook’s “Other Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations” booklet will no longer be included due to the OCC’s announcement of the new interagency procedures. Instead, this brand-new interagency guidance will be used by OCC examiners.

FFIEC emphasized the following issues addressed by the revised examination procedures in the announcement of this release:

determining whether a financial institution is a debt collector in accordance with Regulation F and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act;
restrictions on certain consumer communications regarding debt collection;
a reasonable and easy method for customers to opt out of receiving further communications and attempts to communicate; and the prohibited actions of a debt collector to refrain from harassing, oppressing, or abusing any individual in the course of debt collection.
Additionally, the CFPB’s 2020 and 2021 Fair Debt Collection Final Rules, which came into effect on November 30, 2021, are incorporated into the revised procedures. You can access a copy of the revised procedures below.

FFIEC is an interagency body of the U.S. government that was established in 1979 to establish uniform principles, standards, and report forms for financial institution supervision.