The CFPB Should Not Single-Out Collectors for Non-English Disclosure Requirements

Communicating with consumers is the lifeblood of debt collection; if collectors cannot communicate, they cannot collect on debts from consumers.  As America becomes more diverse, more consumers will have limited English proficiency (“LEP”).   Many collectors have recognized this means they must adapt and find ways to communicate with LEP consumers in languages other than English, usually in Spanish.  Many collectors have done so and communicate with consumers in Spanish and (less often) in other non-English languages.

            The CFPB has stated that it is considering developing proposals under which debt collectors would be required to provide LEP consumers with key disclosure documents in languages other than English.  Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Small Business Review Panel for Debt Collector and Debt Buyer Rulemaking:  Outline of Proposals Under Consideration and Alternatives Considered (July 28, 2016), at 16-17.  Specifically, the CFPB’s SBREFA Outline explained that it is considering requiring that debt collectors provide LEP consumers with validation notices and statements of rights in language other than English.  The CFPB would develop non-English language versions of these documents and collectors, using one of two proposed alternative approaches, would provide them to LEP consumers.

            It of course makes sense for LEP consumers to receive information in languages they understand.  But the CFPB is considering taking a different approach to non-English language disclosures for debt collectors than it has taken for other providers of financial goods and services.  The CFPB is considering requiring in regulation that debt collectors provide non-English language disclosures and specifying in those regulations how they must do so, in contrast to its approach in other regulations of allowing but not requiring non-English language disclosures.