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During this week’s Research Assistant Peer Call a member was seeking advice on how to easily explain the different state privacy laws to collectors. I recently went through a similar exercise when developing training content and thought I would share my personal take on this subject. 

Consumer privacy has been part of our practices as debt collectors but since the enactment of California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) over a dozen more states have established similar consumer privacy laws. These laws seek to protect consumers from the selling and use of consumer data in a fast moving digital world, but what aspects of this do collectors really need to understand? 

Collectors should understand that these laws exist and how it impacts your organization. Providing them with an easy to view chart of the consumer privacy rights may prove helpful. The IAPP has a resource that they keep up-to-date with this information which can be found here. The US State Privacy Legislation Tracker 2024 on this page may be a particularly helpful visual aide during training. 

Outside of this general overview collectors need to understand what your policies are around this subject and your procedures for handling “Right to” requests. They should be trained to listen for keywords regarding consumer privacy and provided with scripting for handling those concerns. Perhaps if you maintain a privacy policy on your website you may want to point consumers there or create a workflow within your system of record to respond to such verbal inquiries, or requests. 

If you do not have training dedicated to this subject area I would encourage you to make that a 2024 initiative as this is a fast moving issue and one that’s of significant importance to creditors.

Documents and Crowdsourced Materials:

• Vendor Questionnaire and Management Policy

Top Reads:

• MN Bill Proposes to Ban Medical Debt Sales

• New Hampshire Enacts Comprehensive Consumer Data Privacy Law

• CFPB Seeks Approval for New Auto Finance Data Collection

Upcoming Webinars/ Other Announcements:

• Research Assistant Webinar Series Kicks off on March 27th at 2:00 ET! Register here: RA Compliance Corner: How to Effectively Communicate with Executive Leadership

• Please make a note of our updated email addresses: 

• Sara Woggerman, sara_consultant@roundtables.us 

• Missy Meggison, mmeggison@roundtables.us  

• Have topics you want to discuss during the peer call? Please send them to: Sara_Consultant@roundtables.us by Thursday to ensure it makes it on our agenda!