Collection Under the Oregon
Unlawful Debt Collection
Practices Act.
ORS 646.639
Disclaimer:
• This presentation is not intended as legal
advice, but is intended to provide you
insight of best collection practices,
compliant with the Oregon Unlawful Debt
Collection Practices statutes.
Important Definitions
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Consumer
Consumer transaction
Commercial creditor
Debt
Debtor
Debt collector
Consumer
• A natural person who purchases or acquires
property, services or credit for personal,
family or household purposes.
Consumer Transaction
• A transaction between a consumer and a
person who sells, leases or provides
property, services or credit to consumers.
Unlawful Collection Practices
• Cannot use or threaten the use of force or
violence to cause physical harm.
– To a debtor.
– To the debtor’s family.
– To the debtor’s property.
• Threaten arrest or criminal prosecution.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Cannot threaten the seizure, attachment or
sale of a debtor’s property.
– When such action can only be taken pursuant to
court order without disclosing that prior court
proceedings are required.
• Cannot use profane, obscene or abusive
language in communicating with a debtor or
the debtor’s family.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Cannot communicate with the debtor or any
member of the debtor’s family repeatedly or
continuously or at times known to be inconvenient
to that person with intent to harass or annoy the
debtor or any member of the debtor’s family.
• Cannot communicate or threaten to communicate
with a debtor’s employer concerning the nature or
existence of the debt.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• No contact at work, except:
– In writing.
• If no home address is reasonably available.
• The envelope does not reveal that the
communication is from a debt collector other than a
provider of the goods, services or credit from which
the debt arose.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• No contact at work, except (continued):
– By telephone.
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Do not disclose.
Unsuccessful attempt at the debtor’s residence.
Limited to one contact per week.
May not if calls not allowed.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• All calls must identify
– The name of the debt collector
– The name of the person, if any, for whom the
debt collector is attempting to collect the debt
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Must disclose within 30 seconds the name
of the individual making the contact and the
true purpose thereof.
• Cannot cause any expense to the debtor, by
concealing the true purpose of the debt
collector’s communication.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Cannot attempt to or threaten to enforce a
right or remedy with knowledge or reason
to know that the right or remedy does not
exist, or threaten to take any action which
the debt collector in the regular course of
business does not take.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Cannot use any form of communication
which simulates legal or judicial process
when it is not in fact so approved or
authorized.
• Cannot represent that an existing debt may
be increased by the addition of fees or
charges when such fees or charges may not
legally be added to the existing debt.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Cannot collect or attempt to collect any
interest or any other charges or fees in
excess of the actual debt unless they are
expressly authorized by the agreement
creating the debt or expressly allowed by
law.
Unlawful Collection Practices
(Continued)
• Cannot threaten to assign or sell the
debtor’s account by implying.
– That the debtor would lose any defense to the
debt.
– Or would be subjected to harsh, vindictive or
abusive collection tactics.
ORS 697.105
• A public body may add a reasonable fee to
the amount of the debt, payable by the
consumer, to compensate (in whole or in
part) for the agency fee incurred or to be
incurred.
ORS 697.105
• Fee may not be added unless, public body
has provided a notice to the consumer of:
– Existence of the debt
– That PB may assign to private collection
agency
– The amount of the fee to be added.
– Fee added cannot exceed the fee of the
collection agency.
ORS 205.125 & 126
• Record an Order or Warrant in County
Clerk Lien Record
– Establish a lien equal to a judgment lien
• File the recorded copy in the Circuit Court –
enforce just as though it was a judgment
– Writ of Execution
– Garnishment
Culture of Financial
Resposibility
• Promote and celebrate a culture of accounts
paid off.
• Be open and transparent about your
collection efforts
– Set goals, train, monitor, evaluate,
communicate results, revise goals, improve –
– REPEAT!!
Consumers
• Monitor Consumer Complaints
– Fix the consumer’s problem – help them
– Use the complaint positively to improve
processes,
– Share them with staff
Why it’s great to comply
with
Oregon Unlawful Debt Collection Practices Act!
• It’s a Great Law
• People are more motivated in a positive
environment
• We are all in the business of making the
world a better place.
Change the World!
How to comply?
• Define Process, Define Process, Define
Process!!!! (Policies and Procedures)
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Letter communications
Phone communications
Email communications
Web communications
Text, IM,Tweeter, etc??????
It’s all about Communication!
Compliance
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Compliance Officer
Management Reporting and Review
Consumer Help Desk
Call Recording
Data Analytics
Logging Complaints
Policies and Procedures - Document Everything!
Quality Control Programs – LEAN
• Formalized Program for Process Control
and Evaluation.
• Staffing
– Behavioral Sciences
– Analytics
Additional Controls
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ISO/IEC - ISMS
PPMS
SSAE 16
Financial Audits