CFPB Holding Debt Collection Field Hearing in July

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced this week that it will be holding a field hearing in Portland, Maine on Wednesday, July 10. The topic will be debt collection.

The event will feature remarks from CFPB Director Richard Cordray, as well as testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public. It is open to the public, but to attend, interested parties must RSVP with name and organization to cfpb.events@cfpb.gov.

In a blog entry announcing the hearing, the CFPB noted that more information on the event will follow.

Since the field hearing falls squarely in the month of July, there has been speculation that the agency will be announcing the addition of debt collection complaint data to its Consumer Response system. That could not be confirmed before publication of this story, however. The CFPB has previously stated that the complaints system will open up for debt collection agencies in July.

The CFPB has been steadily increasing the financial services industries that appear in its complaints database. Debt collection is one of the last remaining.

Once debt collection complaints are officially in the domain of the CFPB, collection agencies will be obligated to respond to and resolve every incoming complaint. In addition, the complaints will be available to the public through the online database portal, with company names prominently displayed.