CRC Comments on CA DFPI's Proposed Complaints and Inquiries Regulation

On July 5, 2022, the Consumer Relations Consortium (CRC) submitted comments to the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) regarding its proposed consumer complaint and inquiry regulations.  The proposed regulations seek to establish complaint filing processes for consumers as well as investigation, response, reporting, and tracking procedures for covered entities.

The CRC's comments were prepared by Legal Advisory Board (LAB) members Joann Needleman and Leslie Bender of Clark Hill, and Brit Suttell of Barron and Newburger.

In its comments, the CRC asked the DFPI to modify its proposed regulation as follows: 

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• Require appropriate verification as a prerequisite to filing a complaint on behalf of a third party due to the growing number of credit repair and debt management companies that seek extensive information by filing generic and duplicate complaints.
  
  
• Provide clarification to the definition of "complaint" to make it clear that a dispute made pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is not a complaint. 
  
  
• Allow covered entities to seek proof of authority to act on a consumer's behalf to prevent covered entities from exposing consumers' sensitive data to third parties. 
  
  
• Automate and standardize the inquiry and complaint process, including reporting and retention requirements to include a web portal. Standardization will increase efficiency. 

The complete comment filed by the CRC can be found here. 

About the Consumer Relations Consortium

The Consumer Relations Consortium(CRC) is an organization comprised of more than 60 national companies representing the diverse ecosystem of debt collection including creditors, data/technology providers and compliance-oriented debt collectors that are larger market participants. Established in 2013, CRC is evolving the debt collection paradigm by engaging stakeholders—including consumer advocates, Federal and State regulators, academic and industry thought leaders, creditors and debt collectors—and challenging them to move beyond talking points and focus on fashioning real-world solutions that actually improve the consumer experience. CRC’s collaborative and candid approach is unique in the market.  CRC is managed by The iA Institute.