New ACA CEO Lays Out Agenda for ARM Industry

Rozanne Andersen, who recently became CEO of ACA International, says one of her main goals in her new position is to help reposition the accounts receivable management industry for the future.

Andersen, who had been the association’s executive vice president and general counsel, succeeds Gary Rippentrop, who had been ACA’s CEO since 1996 (“Executive Change: ACA International Names Rozanne M. Andersen CEO,” Nov. 19, 2009). Rippentrop has agreed to remain on as a special executive consultant until July.

“Gary did a fabulous job,” Andersen said. The transition had already been planned for Rippentrop’s previously planned retirement slated for July of this year, so Andersen’s November appointment to CEO was just an acceleration of the change, not something unexpected, Andersen said.

Anderson, who originally joined ACA in September of 1996, was previously the organization’s executive vice president and general counsel.

“The industry has been long misunderstood by a laundry list of stakeholders,” Andersen said. “We need to step forward through credible research and through professional and ethical actions. The problem right now is that we don’t have the credible research that we need in order to tell our story.”

ACA will be working with other ARM associations, including DBA International, the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys (NARCA) and the Commercial Law League of America (CLLA), to present the collection and debt buying industry in a positive light. Too often, “we find ourselves defending the industry due to the actions of just a few,” Andersen noted.

When collectors take inappropriate actions with consumers, those are the stories that tend to find their way into the press, rather than articles discussing ACA’s consumer education work or efforts by collectors to work out payment plans with debtors, Andersen said.

As a way to promote a better image of the industry, ACA created the Collector’s Pledge, in which the signee agrees to be professional and ethical, treat people with dignity and respect and “make it my responsibility to help consumers find ways to pay their just debts.” To date, 133 debt collection agencies and 17,984 individuals have signed the pledge.

ACA is also looking into developing a nationwide consumer complaint resolution program.

ACA will continue to oppose the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that is in both the House and Senate versions of financial reform legislation, Andersen added. Collectors and debt purchasers were not involved in the lending and credit collapse that sparked the call for sweeping financial reform legislation, yet the collection industry is among those that would be affected by the legislation if it passes.

“It was the financial institutions that were out of control, not our industry,” Andersen said. “Nor did we play a role in the economic downturn. We see no purpose for being included in CFPA.”

Andersen declined to predict if the legislation would finally be approved.

“There’s no way of knowing what direction the [proposed] legislation will take,” Andersen said. “It’s gone back and forth. The only thing that is clear is that there is no clear vision yet.”

Also on the legislative front, ACA is bracing for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) reform. There is no specific legislation yet, so there are no specific reform elements to plan for, but “to be forewarned is to be forearmed,” Andersen said.

ACA will also be active in identifying for its membership those legislators the organization feels are friends of the industry in anticipation of the mid-term elections in November.

A year from now, Andersen foresees an industry that no longer grapples with many of the disputes over collections. “We will be well on our way to providing consumers with a meaningful way to deal with individual collectors and the industry at large.”