insideARM.com Poll Results: The Bartmann Ethical Debt Collection Practices Act

We asked you, last week, in conjunction with a story we ran on Bill Bartmann and his strange-bedfellows relationship with an Oklahoma Senator, to participate in a poll on our home page.

There were three options:

1) This is just going to confuse efforts to update and expand the FDCPA.

2) While this might be necessary for the industry, we might want a better champion.

3) This is an important piece of legislation; my hope is it gets passed and that more states take notice.

Though not entirely neck-and-neck, the majority of you thought that it was going to confuse efforts to update and expand the FDCPA and that any sort of movement like this might want a better champion.

If you haven’t already, you might enjoy a post from Mark Russell of Kaulkin Ginsberg. He adds a little more color to the conversation and has a lot of the same concerns the majority of you have.

We’re not surprised by these poll results. It does raise some interesting questions, though:

1) Just how long does someone get to be saddled with the Worst Person in the Industry moniker? Is that just to be Bill Bartmann’s fate among a large percentage of his peers? Or will there eventually be a time when he can put CFS I behind him?

2) Why hasn’t any other agency stepped up as a rival to Bartmann in this messaging? Is it simply a matter of resources? Bartmann has a bajillion dollars with which to promote himself as an industry watchdog (while also running a second colletion agency). What are some other barriers to entry for agencies who want to get a progressive message out there?

Check back later today for a new poll.