Debt Collection Activities Study

EXHIBIT B

Debt Collection Activities Study
Questions on collection activities and costs
This outreach is being conducted in order to build the Bureau’s knowledge of the operational
costs of collecting debt that is in default. The information that you provide will help the CFPB
better understand the burden of potential regulations affecting the debt collection industry.
Responses are voluntary and will not be used for supervisory or enforcement purposes.
Below is a list of questions about the operation of your business and your costs as they relate to
collecting debts. Upon return of this questionnaire, we may follow up with you to ask if you are
willing to discuss some of these topics in more detail.
We are sending this survey to a broad range of companies, and some questions may not be
applicable to your business. If a question is not applicable to you, please say so. If you have any
questions about any part of this document, please email at ___________ or call _________ at
____________. Once complete, please return this survey by email to ______________ or by
mail to ____________.
Privacy Notice
5 U.S.C. 552(a)(e)(3)
The information you provide through your responses to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”)
will assist in gathering information to understand the costs of debt collection activities in order to
analyze the potential burden to industry of the Bureau’s debt collection proposals.
The CFPB will obtain first name, last name, business email address, and business phone number from
participants.
Information collected on behalf of the Bureau by ICF will be treated in accordance with the System of
Records Notice (“SORN”), CFPB.022, https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/11/14/201227582/privacy-act-of-1974-as-amended. This information will not be disclosed as outlined in the Routine
Uses for the SORN. Direct identifying information will only be used to facilitate the interview and will be
kept private except as required by law.
This collection of information is authorized by Pub. L. No. 111-203, Title X, Sections 1013 and 1022,
codified at 12 U.S.C. §§ 5493 and 5512.
Participation in this exercise is voluntary, you are not required to participate or share any identifying
information, including first name, last name, business email address and business phone number, and
you may withdraw participation at any time. However, if you do not include the requested information,
you may not participate in the interview.

1

1. [Use this version of Question 1 for debt collector respondents only:] Basic questions
about the business:
a. Employees:
i. Approximately how many employees (full-time or full-time equivalents)
do you have?
____ number of employees.
ii. Of these, how many employees are collectors (full-time or full-time
equivalents)?
____ number of full time collectors.
iii. How many are line collection managers?
____ number of line collection managers.
iv. How many employees are responsible for monitoring compliance with
state or federal law (full-time or full-time equivalents)?
____ number of employees responsible for compliance monitoring.

b. In the past year, for each type of debt below, please indicate the approximate
share of your net revenue from collecting that type of debt:
None or less 1%-20%
20%-50%
50% or more
than 1%
Credit card
Student loans
Auto
Other consumer credit
Medical
Telecom
Other utilities
Commercial
Other (please specify)

c. As a fraction of all accounts placed with you in the past year, approximately what
percentage of accounts falls into the following age categories at the time of
placement:
None or less
than 1%
<180 days delinquent
181-360 days delinquent
>360 days delinquent
2

1%-20%

20%-50%

50% or
more

d. Do you
___ collect debt you own
___ debt owned by your clients
___ collect both debt you own and debt owned by your clients
e. Approximately how many clients placed accounts with you last year?
____ number of clients placing accounts in the past year
f. Approximately how many accounts do you have in inventory?
__________ number of accounts in inventory
g. What is the approximate total face value of accounts that you have in inventory?
__________ aggregate face value of accounts in inventory
h. Approximately how many accounts do you actively attempt to collect on in any
given month?
______ number actively collected on
i. Do you collect debt from consumers in New York State?
__ yes
__ no
2. [Use this question for creditor respondents only:] Basic questions about the business:
a. Do you have a separate business unit or group of employees dedicated to
recovering payments from accounts that are charged off or otherwise severely
delinquent?
__ yes
__ no
i. If yes, under what conditions are accounts assigned to this unit?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
b. The following questions refer to accounts that are charged off or otherwise
severely delinquent:
i. Approximately how many such accounts do you have in inventory (as of
now or a recent date)?
__________ number of such accounts in inventory
ii. What is the approximate total face value of such accounts that you have in
inventory?
__________ aggregate face value of accounts in inventory
3

iii. Approximately how many such accounts do your employees actively
attempt to collect on in any given month?
______ number actively collected on
iv. In addition to or instead of collecting such accounts with your own
employees, do you (please check all that apply)
__ use contingency collectors
__ sell your debt to debt buyers
v. Are there types of accounts for which you are more likely to use in-house
efforts instead of or in addition to using contingency collectors or debt
buyers? (Please list)
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
c. Employees:
i. How many of your employees are involved in collecting from accounts
that are charged off or severely delinquent (full-time or full-time
equivalents)?
____ number of employees
ii. Of these, how many employees call consumer to attempt to collect (fulltime or full-time equivalents)?
____ number of full time collectors.
iii. How many are line collection managers?
____ number of line collection managers.

d. If you send accounts to contingency collectors or sell them to debt buyers , in the
past year, approximately what percentage of these accounts fell into the following
age categories at the time of placement or sale:
None or less
than 1%

1%-20%

20%-50%

50% or
more

<180 days delinquent
181-360 days delinquent
>360 days delinquent

3. Questions about specific business processes. [For the questions below, please answer
each question as it applies to your attempts to collect on accounts that are charged off or
severely delinquent.]
4

e. Maintaining and using account information.
i. What collections management system (or other software system to
maintain account information) do you use, if any?
_____________________________________________
If none, how do you track account-level information about accounts you
are attempting to collect from?
_____________________________________________
ii. If program adjustments to your collection management system are
required (for example, due to changes in [client policies or] federal or state
law), do you rely on your vendor to make those program adjustments or
are you able to do this internally?
__ rely on vendor
__ do internally
__ both vendor and internal resources are needed
__ it depends on the adjustments
f. [When you receive account information from creditors][In collecting account
information from consumers], how often do you receive each of the following:
(please check the appropriate boxes)
Always

Often

Rarely

Never

Full name
Last known address
Phone number
SSN
Date of birth
Debt ownership history/Chain of title (where relevant)
Debt balance at charge-off (where relevant)
Breakdown of post-charge-off fees and interest
Account agreement documentation
Billing statements

g. Calling consumers.
i. How many live conversations with debtors does each full time collector
have each day, on average?
____ number of live conversations on average
ii. What dialer vendor (if any) do you use?
__________________________________________

5

iii. Do you use speech analytics software?
__ yes
__ no
iv. Do you currently leave voicemails for consumers?
__ yes
__ no
v. Do any of your clients impose restrictions on your call frequency?
__ yes
__ no
vi. Do you operate in states that restrict call frequency?
__ yes
__ no
vii. Do you provide consumers with a toll-free number for return calls?
__ yes
__ no
viii. Do you record collector calls?
__ Do not record calls
__ Record a sample of calls
__ Record all calls
ix. If you record collector calls, how long do you retain the recordings?
___ months
h. Written communications
i. For each account, on average, how many letters do you send:
In the first month after placement? ___ letters
Over the life of a placement? ___ letters
ii. What vendor (if any) do you use to send letters or written notices?
_____________________________________________
iii. [Debt collectors only] When you send validation notices are they
___ sent separately from other written communications
___ included in the same mailing with other communications
iv. [Debt collectors only] At what point do you send validation notices to
consumers?

6

__
__
__
__

Shortly after the account is placed with your agency
Shortly after you begin attempting to contact a consumer
Once you have made contact with a consumer
Other (please specify):

i. Disputes
i. When consumers dispute your efforts to collect, approximately what
percentage of disputes are made in writing? ___ %
ii. [Debt collectors only] When consumers dispute in writing, approximately
what percentage of disputes are made within the first thirty days after the
validation notice is sent? ___ %
iii. When consumers dispute, how frequently does the consumer assert:
(1) that they are the wrong consumer: ___ %
(2) that they owe a different amount: ___ %
(3) no specific dispute: ___ %
(4) other specific dispute: ___ % (please specify)
iv. [Debt collectors only] Do you investigate disputes or do you rely on the
creditor to investigate?
j. Payments and charges
i. [Debt collectors only] How do you accept and process payments? Check
all that apply:
__ ACH
__ credit card
__ paper check
__ check by phone
__ Other: (please specify) _____________________________________
ii. [Debt collectors only] Do you use an online payment portal? If so, which
vendor provides the portal?
______________________________________________
iii. [Debt collectors only] Do you charge convenience fees for use of any
forms of payment?
Convenience fees
Charged
Not charged

Payment type
ACH
Credit card
7

Paper check
Check by phone
other

iv. Do you assess post-charge off interest or fees on debt [you own or on
behalf of the debt owner]?
On debt you own

On behalf of the debt owner

Never
Rarely
Frequently
Always

k. Skip tracing and otherwise supplementing account information
i. What vendors do you use for:
1. Obtaining new or updated phone number information
________________________________________
2. Other skip tracing
________________________________________
3. Screening accounts for deceased consumers, bankruptcy, litigious
debtors, etc.
________________________________________
4. Account analytics/scoring
________________________________________
l. Furnishing data to credit bureaus:
i. Do you furnish data to credit bureaus?
__ yes
__ no
ii. If yes:
1. Do you furnish information on all accounts or only some accounts?
__ all accounts
__ some accounts
__ it depends
2. [Debt collectors only] Approximately how often do your clients:
8

Always

Often

Rarely

Never

Require you to furnish data to credit bureaus
Prohibit you from furnishing data to credit bureaus
Allow you discretion as to whether you furnish data to
credit bureaus

3. How frequently do you update data furnished to credit bureaus?
____________ update frequency

m. Litigation
i. Do you sue consumers as part of your collection efforts?
__ yes
__ no
ii. If you do litigate, what law firms or legal networks do you use in filing
lawsuits?
________________________________________________
iii. Prior to filing a lawsuit, do you engage in any particular outreach to the
consumer regarding imminent litigation?
__ yes
__ no
1. If yes, please identify the outreach engaged in:
_____________________________________________

n. [Debt collectors only] Compliance topics
i. Do you use compliance management software?
__ yes
__ no
ii. Do your clients conduct audits of your compliance with federal and state
laws?
__ yes, clients conduct regular and frequent audits of our legal compliance
__ yes, clients conduct occasional audits of our legal compliance
__ no, our legal compliance is not audited by our clients

o. Are there other significant sources of operational costs not discussed above? If
so, please identify them briefly:
9

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Please provide the name and contact information of the person we should contact with
any follow up questions about your answers to this survey.
Name:
Phone:
Email:
5. Would you be willing to participate in a follow up interviews (in the form of one or two
60-90 minute phone calls) to discuss the topics above in more depth?
__ yes
__ no

Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this survey. Please return the survey by
email to ____________ or by mail to ___________________.
Paperwork Reduction Act
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor and,
not withstanding any other provision of law, a person is not required to respond to a collection of
information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this
collection is 3170-0032. It expires on 02/29/2016. The time required to complete this
information collection is estimated to average approximately 60 minutes per response.
Responding to this collection of information is voluntary. Comments regarding this collection of
information, including the estimated response time, suggestions for improving the usefulness of
the information, or suggestions for reducing the burden to respond to this collection should be
submitted to Bureau at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Attention: PRA Office),
1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20552, or by email to [email protected].
Also, a federal law called the Privacy Act directs how the federal government treats the
information contained in your answers to these questions. To understand how and when your
information may be shared, you can read the Privacy Act Statement on the CFPB’s website at
www.consumerfinance.gov. The CFPB will also treat the information received consistent its
confidentiality regulations at 12 CFR § 1070.
If the responses you provide to this study are requested under the Freedom of Information Act,
the Bureau will withhold such responses to the extent that it determines that they constitute trade
secrets or confidential commercial information that you would not ordinarily make public. The
Bureau will deem any such trade secrets or confidential commercial information to be
“confidential information” for purposes of the Bureau’s confidentiality rules at 12 CFR §
1070.40 et seq.
10

11