Contact Frequency Is Key as CFPB Pursues Debt Collection Rules

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is expected to provide the first hints this week of how it will regulate debt collection, and banks are anxious to hear whether the agency will limit how frequently they can contact consumers.

The regulation would be the first under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a law that went into effect in 1978, when debt collection meant picking up a telephone. The rise of new technologies ranging from the internet and smartphones to social media makes the question of “contact frequency”—how many times a creditor can call, e-mail or text—a central concern for ...