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Adding Fees to Debts, #8000, Updated 4/1/15
501(r) Final Regulations for Charitable
Hospitals, #6258, Added 3/24/15
Frequency of Collection Calls: What
Constitutes Harassment?, #2333, Updated
4/1/15
Mini-Miranda State and Federal Requirements,
#1145, Updated 3/25/15
Interstate Chart, #3005, Updated 4/1/15
State Laws Governing Oral Communication
with Consumers, #2011, Updated 4/1/15
State Licensing Requirements for Debt
Purchaser, #4553, Updated 4/1/15
Truncation Requirements, #1514, Updated
3/26/15
apply payments first to
interest, and the
remainder to
principal.
However, it is
important to research
the laws of the state
you are collecting in,
as state law might be more restrictive.
For example Nevada requires that,
unless a written agreement between
the parties states otherwise, any money
collected on a claim—after court costs
have been recovered—must first be
credited to the principal amount of the
claim. Any interest charged and
collected on the claim must be
allocated pursuant to the agreement
between the customer and the
collection agency.
The regulations implemented by
the state of New York are a recent
example of state requirements for
handling consumer payments. In this
state, debt collectors will be required
to provide both a statement of the
payment arrangement and a specific
notice of which types of income cannot
be taken to pay a consumer debt.
Collectors will also be required to
send a statement at least quarterly to
consumers with whom they have a
payment arrangement while they are
making scheduled payments.
Other states’ requirements that
might be of interest:
• Illinois has a specific requirement
for collecting multiple accounts
from the same consumer.
• Hawaii requires every collection
agency to keep and maintain a
permanent record or have
immediate access to copies of the
permanent record of payments
collected.
Many states have laws and regulations that place requirements on a debt
collector’s relationship with its
creditor-clients. These regulations
most commonly dictate when a
collector is to remit any funds it has
collected to its clients. There are also
provisions, frequently tied to a state’s
bond or trust account requirements,
that require debt collectors to provide
reports to clients on the amounts
collected.
In addition, state law may specify
how debt collectors should handle and
apply payments they receive from a
consumer.
Generally, if a debt is undisputed
and interest is being collected on it,
unless otherwise stipulated by contract,
a collection agency is permitted to
Handling Consumer Payments
Look to ACA SearchPoint for information on state consumer payment requirements
• Colorado requires receipts for
payments made in cash or other
means that do not provide evidence
of payment.
• North Carolina does not require a
collection agency to refund an
overpayments of less than one
dollar.
It can be difficult to keep up with
the diverse laws in each state. That’s
why ACA International has compiled a
list of states with unique statutory
language specifying how payments are
to be applied in various situations and
how agencies are to handle the
payments they receive from consumers.
This list can be found in ACA
SearchPoint document #2006,
“Handling Payments.” cm
Have you checked out ACA’s member-only SearchPoint library? ACA
SearchPoint is filled with documents
that put important compliance
information related to the FDCPA,
FCRA, TCPA, state laws and many
other topics at your fingertips! To
access ACA SearchPoint, visit
acainternational.org/searchpoint.
Recently Added/
Updated Documents
To read all the ACA SearchPoint compliance
documents, visit
acainternational.org/
searchpoint.