FMEA TCPA Compliance FDCPA Update on Adding Fee to Collections Collections Best Practices 1
About ONLINE Industry leader for more almost 60 years. Headquartered in North Carolina. Originally a small merchant credit bureau. In 1997, focus shifted from reporting past credit history to risk and debt management solutions. Thousands of clients benefitting from our Exchange-based products and solutions. Licensed to recover bad debt in all 50 states. 2
Today ONLINE provides risk assessment and bad debt recovery tools for the electric utility, cable, water and sewer, telecommunications, and property management industries. 3
National Presence 4
Compliance 5
TCPA Compliance Verify with each client if they have Express Consent If not, accounts with cell phone numbers are flagged for manual dialing Collectors attempt to get Express Consent from the consumer as they make the manually dialed calls 6
Technology/Automation: TCPA Compliance Initial Scrub at load to identify cell numbers Dialer scrubs phone number again before dialing attempt is made Any number found from skip-tracing is automatically flagged as Unauthorized Cell 7
FCC Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) There are two exceptions to the ruling Prior Express Consent Emergency Calls 8
Utilities who utilize outbound messaging Are utilities required to have permission from Existing Customers before contacting them by means of text messaging? Not required for power outages, storm alerts, status updates and conservation alerts. These all qualify as informational notifications. Permission is only required if you are promoting additional sales or services. ie. Sales for additional services such as adding cable or internet to an existing landline account. 9
Can Express Consent be revoked? Yes, Consumers have the right to take back their permission to be called or texted in any reasonable way. Callers are allowed to call wrong number only once before updating. This most commonly occurs when one person has given consent to be called or texted but then gave up that number and then number is reassigned to someone else. 10
Bradley vs. Franklin Decision: FDCPA Compliance Court ruling - adding fees to collection accounts without express consent is a FDCPA violation. Express consent must be obtained at point of application Fee amount must be explicitly stated in service agreement, by-laws, etc. 11
Impacts: FDCPA Compliance Significant lawsuit exposure risk (agencies and utilities) Accounts without express consent must have fees removed if already referred Service providers should review terms of service, membership agreement, etc. to ensure required language either exists or will be added 12
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Causes of Utility Bad Debt Fraudulent applications. Failure to assess risk. Inability to track Utility non-payers. No penalty for non-payment. Collection agency cannot locate your charge-offs. 19
Best Practices If using a Third Party Service: Ensure agency is FCRA and FDCPA compliant, and licensed and bonded. Refer frequently and consistently. Include all available information on debtors. Respond to Requests for Information (RFI) promptly. Report direct payments to Collection agency. If pursuing internal collection efforts: Report to the credit bureaus to create penalty for non payment. Comply with applicable regulations. Require payment for delinquent accounts before reconnecting service on new service address, and charge maximum deposit. Arm staff with the tools they need to be successful. 20
Best Practices Align your deposit policy with your disconnect policy. Reject Letters of Credit. Verify applicant identity and prevent application fraud. Screen a co applicant if available. Capture as much information as possible during the application process. Implement deposit policy that rewards your good customers and requires higher deposits from higher risk applicants. 21
Questions? EMAIL - SMunn@ONLINEis.com Phone - 866.630.6400 Website - www.onlineutilityexchange.com *This presentation is for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as legal advice. 22