California Association of Collectors Votes to Stand Pat on ACA Membership Ties

Members of the California Association of Collectors (CAC) overwhelmingly passed a motion to table for one year an amendment to its bylaws that would allow its members to choose to become an ACA International member, rather than requiring mandatory membership in ACA when they join the CAC.

CAC leaders proposed an amendment to their organization’s bylaws that would have greatly altered its ties with ACA, the largest association of accounts receivable management professionals, in response to recent moves by ACA that California members considered wasteful and unnecessary (“Debt Collector Registry and Dispute Resolution Proposal May Alienate Prominent ACA Affiliate,” Aug. 6).

The vote came following a three-hour meeting attended by ACA President Karolyn Rubin and President Elect Martin Sher, in which Rubin told CAC members that ACA heard “loud and clear” their concerns.  She also promised change and to take their concerns back to ACA’s Executive Board.

Lloyd Dix, vice president and general counsel of Union and one of the co-authors of the bylaw amendment, told insideARM that CAC members wanted to give ACA a chance to fulfill its promise before taking further action.

“We wanted ACA to have an opportunity to act on our concerns,” Dix said.

CAC is ACA’s oldest affiliate; ACA bylaws require members of affiliate associations to be ACA members. If the amendment to CAC bylaws had passed, ACA previously told insideARM that CAC would no longer be the official state unit for ACA.

Jerry Greenblatt, president of El Cajon, Calif.-based Inland Capital Services, told insideARM that he supported the bylaws amendment, but agrees that ACA should be given a chance to address CAC members’ concerns.  Likewise, members should be fully informed before it votes.

“They bought themselves some time to earn back the trust of the members.” Greenblatt said of ACA. “The relationship between the ACA and CAC members has been damaged severely over the years.  And I think they have a long road ahead of them.  But all is not lost. If they keep their promises and they work toward honest and transparent communication they can get back in touch with the members and back on focus of ACA’s mission.”

CAC’s motion to amend its bylaws was fueled by a variety of recent actions taken by the ACA without membership input, Greenblatt said. But the ACA’s national board of directors’ decision last July to give ACA’s executive committee the authority to explore and create, if viable, a national debt collector registry and complaint resolution program without input from the general membership led directly to the motion to amend CAC’s bylaws. Some members said ACA should not be in the regulation business and that they believed that ACA has strayed from its mission of being an industry advocate.

“The (self-regulatory organization) was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Greenblatt said.